Life is War
by Lt.Hanz
Summary: Sequel to 'Life is Fringe'. Five years later, Max, Chloe, and Kevin have settled into their new lives. However, they soon find themselves caught up in a power-struggle between two powerful men competing to control the fate of the world. Loyalties will be tested but a greater threat looms in the darkness, ready to strike.
1. Chapter 1: Peace is a Lie

**Chapter 1: Peace Is a Lie**

Wondering if his anxieties that always proceeded an assault would ever cease their torments upon his mind, Kevin shielded his eyes from another sand-blasted gust of wind. His men were in place as were their allies and nothing more could be done except wait. Kevin and his forces had been hunkered down within sight of the enemy air-field for hours and they had quietly watched the sun creep ever higher into the sky, gradually feeling the heat from its merciless rays build slowly but inevitably. Worrying once again that he might have missed something he did his best to cast such doubts away as he turned to look at his men.

All around him he spotted his soldiers in scattered groups and he wished once again that he had been able to bring more. He only had twenty-four of his own men alongside him but they were not alone. All around him members of the Free Syrian Army and other rebel groups gripped their weapons nervously as they waited for the signal to attack. The airfield was an important strategic asset to the regime and after today's assault it would no longer belong to government forces, the rebels were about to steal it from them. The Syrian civil war had erupted almost a year ago and the nations of the world had looked on with increasing disinterest as the country tore itself apart.

The ongoing war had no end in sight and Kevin had almost immediately chosen to assist the increasingly desperate rebels in their attempts to oust the corrupt ruling regime. Their once peaceful protests had turned into an armed revolution when government forces had met them with violence and massacres. Foreign fighters from all over the world had flocked to both sides and the conflict had escalated and was now no longer just a civil war, but a proxy war between competing ideologies. Both sides were now guilty of countless atrocities but the massive majority of those had been committed by forces loyal to the government. They were systematically and brutally annihilating their own population and they had to be stopped.

A sudden movement caught Kevin's attention and he exhaled slowly as he watched a Russian-made MI-24 Hind rise into the air, _it's about damned time…_ As he watched the helicopter ascend ever higher into the air he knew that two anti-air hand-held rockets were being trained on it and were simply waiting for his command. He slowly raised his hand and waited for the helicopter to finish its ascent and begin its turn before giving the command.

As the two missiles short forth towards the helicopter alarms went off inside the cockpit alerting the pilots to the danger and they reacted immediately and a series of flares suddenly burst forth from the craft. The missiles suddenly veered away from their target and the pilots probably breathed a sigh of relief as the missiles tore past. They were probably completely speechless when one of the warheads suddenly snapped back around and plunged into their craft. Smiling to himself he put his hand down and readied his weapon and all around him cheers erupted as hundreds of soldiers leapt to their feet and charged forward as the helicopter exploded.

Sirens began to wail in the distance as Kevin and the mass of soldiers around him rushed towards the airfield as sleepy defenders cried out in alarm and scrambled to take up their defensive positions. Scattered reports of gunfire began to pick off the attackers but were almost immediately silenced as several dozen explosions erupted around the perimeter of the base. The well-aimed artillery barrage all but wiped out the first line of defense around the airfield and the attackers quickly took advantage of this and rushed past the mutilated corpses of the defenders, killing any survivors in their wake.

As Kevin ran he turned to look at one of his own and cast her an approving nod, she had labored tirelessly to make sure that the barrage had been just right. Monika Weiss, or 'IQ' as she was affectionally called, was a genius. She wasn't just smart, she was that rare kind of smart where she quite literally knew almost everything. Unfortunately, she had disappointed her parents and 'wasted' her intelligence by joining the army and later was recruited by Germany's elite GSG-9 counter-terrorism unit. But this had not been enough for her and she had left the unit, frustrated with how little impact she was able to make on the world. Kevin had recruited her shortly after she had left GSG-9 and she had never looked back. She was one of the six women that made up his elite forces that fought beside him today. All of them were cast-outs or drop outs of special forces from around the world that had the desire to do more to stop the rising chaos that seemed to be infecting every corner of the globe and Kevin had personally recruited all of them.

The second line of defense was fast approaching and these defenders were much more prepared than their counterparts had been. A determined and stiff resistance to the attackers had formed and several more fell as the attack began to falter. IQ's artillery barrage had been a one-time gimmick however due to the ammunition shortages that the rebels were suffering from so this line of defense had to be tackled the hard way. The rebels unleashed a barrage of shoulder mounted rocket propelled grenades and several scattered explosions tore holes in the defenses but the defenders stiffly refused to break. The rebels charged forwards with another cheer and several more were cut down by fire from the defenders.

The rebels had more courage than sense sometimes and even though many of them were former Syrian Army soldiers that had joined the rebel movement many more were poorly trained and ill-equipped militia. These people desperately wanted their country free of tyranny and were prepared to die for it and Kevin had grown sick of watching them do just that. He and his men had spent as much time as they could properly training as many of the rebels as possible but his men were too few and the rebels were many, they couldn't help them all. As the rebels' losses mounted Kevin did his best to not let their deaths not go to waste.

Rifle in hand he downed target after target with quick, well-aimed shots and he knew that his men were all doing the same. Scattered throughout the battle-field were twenty-four well trained, efficiently ruthless killers but during this phase of the fight one of them was most likely more in his element than all the rest. Timur Glazkov, or 'Glaz' as he was more commonly called, was by far the best marksman on the field and Kevin knew with grim certainty that every bullet that he was firing was ending the life of one of their enemies. He had formerly been with Russia's elite Spetsnaz forces but now he was here in the deserts of Syria bringing death to Kevin's enemies.

In a matter of moments, the second defensive line buckled and collapsed as the continuous pressure from the rebels and the devastating damage wrought by Kevin's soldiers melted their numbers away. As the attackers pushed past the ruins of the second and last defensive line they rushed into the airfield itself and the fighting quickly deteriorated into a desperate struggle as attackers and defenders alike were cut off and separated from their comrades. All at once the rebels laid siege to every building surrounding the massive airfield and Kevin was forced to split his personal forces into several groups to maximize their effectiveness. This of course wasn't a serious issue since his soldiers didn't just fight as a single cohesive unit but were organized to fight as several independent fighting forces each with their own leader.

The twenty-four soldiers were split into two twelve-man teams, these two teams themselves were organized into two six-man teams so at any given moment they could break down into smaller units if the situation demanded it. And at the moment, his soldiers' expertise was needed everywhere, and as he gave the order he watched the men and women under his command expertly adapt to the situation and integrate themselves into the rebel forces yet still maintain their cohesion with their individual units.

Pausing a moment to reload his AN-94 Russian-made assault rifle, Kevin nodded towards Tachanka and Fuze. Together the three men charged into one of the many buildings, joining the desperate and bloody struggle inside. Alexsandr 'Tachanka' Senaviev and Shuhrat 'Fuze' Kessikbayev were two more Spetsnaz dropouts who had joined his forces at Glaz's behest. This was a common trend within his unit, once he claimed a member of a fighting force they tended to bring along friends, lovers or even family along with them. Kevin even encouraged this because it greatly improved unit cohesion, especially at times like this. Glaz was close behind along with the two other members of his six-man unit, Ela and Zofia. Elzbieta 'Ela' Bosak and her older sister Zofia Bosak had once been members of Poland's elite special forces unit GROM but Kevin had recruited one and had quickly gained the other. Oddly, he could never remember which one he had recruited first and the two sisters amusingly both insisted it had been them. Right behind the two Polish sisters was the team's leader and he came through the door with a loud crash and a menacing cackle, Canderous had entered the building. Taking cover inside the door-frame he reloaded his massive weapon and, roaring with pleasure, opened fire on an unseen foe. The brutal man had been with him since the beginning, the very beginning.

Tuchanka took up his leaders' menacing roar and cackled himself as he downed enemy after enemy with his heavy machine gun, the two had become fast friends when they had first met and were a force to be reckoned with. Within a minute the chaotic fighting inside the building was over and the attackers left nothing but corpses of the defenders, no quarter had been given to anyone surrendering. The attack needed to be quick and savage, prisoners would have slowed them down so none were taken. Canderous's team soon exited the building in search of more targets but Kevin knew that they would be hard-pressed to find any, the attack had succeeded and the last remaining pockets of defenders were being ruthlessly wiped out. Kevin normally would have been relieved at this point of the battle but he felt the tragedy long before Lieutenant Lee Martin reached him, two of his men had fallen.

Fighting battles meant casualties and the rebels had lost many of their own in this fight, but it had been their fight. Kevin's men had perished because they had followed him into this fight that he had made theirs. They, like him, were willing to fight and die to make their world a better place but that didn't make it any easier for him to stomach when one of his soldiers fell in battle. Casualties for his soldiers were rare of course, but this still didn't make it any easier to deal with. They weren't just his soldiers, they were his friends, his comrades, the men and women who he trusted above all else, and two of them now lay dead at his feet.

Dominic 'Bandit' Brunsmeie and Elias 'Blitz' Kotz had both once been members of the GSG-9, just like IQ, but now they were dead, and it was Kevin's fault. They never would have come to the deserts of Syria to fight and die if he hadn't invited them into his unit. He wouldn't be looking down at their still bodies if he hadn't chosen to assist the rebels in their fight for freedom. And he certainly wouldn't feel as if a small, but substantial part of him had been ripped out if he hadn't led these two men to their deaths.

 _God damnit… two of my men… two of my best… for what? A fucking airfield? The rebels are just going to lose this damned scrap of land tomorrow and I'll have to lose two more men taking it back whenever that happens. Fuck!_ Kevin's thoughts tore away at him as he watched his men solemnly ready the bodies for transport. Lieutenant Martin seemed to be wearing the deaths as poorly as he was and that just made Kevin even angrier.

"Lieutenant, their blood is on my hands… not yours… don't you dare for a second take responsibility for this, don't you fucking dare. This is my fault, not yours, are we clear?" His Lieutenant looked at him and nodded but the pain in the man's eyes did not change nor did Kevin's harsh words wipe away the guilty look on the man's face. The reason for his guilt was obvious, he had lost two of Kevin's men and he knew that he wouldn't be blamed for it, he knew that Kevin would greedily hoard the blame as he always did. His eyes met those of IQ and he noticed a mixture of anger and sadness behind her blue eyes. The two emotions conflicted within her and he knew that if they were alone and with no witnesses she would either move towards him seeking comfort or slug him. The two men had been her friends, her comrades, and as she turned away from him he wondered if she blamed him for their deaths, he certainly did.

Once the bodies had been prepared for transport Kevin and his remaining soldiers left the victorious rebels to their spoils and slipped off into the desert. That night they boarded their hidden transport ship and were on their way back to their base of operations. Secreted away in the endless wastes of North Africa lay their hidden base and the entire flight was endured in silence, not a word was spoken. He had formed this team because he wanted to make the world a better place, but over the years he had slowly become to realize that his team was too small to do any lasting good or to make any difference. It was becoming clearer and clearer to him that he would run out of friends before there was any semblance of peace in this world. As this thought implanted itself deeper and deeper into his mind his mood blackened as a lone tear worked its way down through the scar on his face.

This had been going on for weeks now. Instead of waking up next to her partner and enjoying the early morning with snuggles and kisses Max woke up to an empty bed. Chloe's side of the bed had, as usual, grown cold, the warmth of her body long gone. Sighing, Max sat up and stretched as she thought back to the days seemingly long gone of when she would open her eyes and Chloe's tired smile would greet her as her dreams faded away. Max wasn't worried though, she knew exactly where Chloe was.

* * *

Saddened at the prospects of having to get used to this morning ritual Max showered and brushed her teeth and readied herself for another day at college. This was her last year and it was quickly drawing to a close and even though she was twenty-four she still didn't feel like an adult yet. She and Chloe were still kids taking everything one day at a time. Lately though, the days had been wearing on Chloe and Max couldn't help but worry. As Max got dressed she ran her fingers over her scar on the lower right of her abdomen as her thoughts went back to the past. _Had that really been five years ago?_ Shaking away the still vivid memories of being shot she smiled nonetheless, _I'm glad I traded my appendix for Chloe, totes worth it._

Max shivered as she thought back to how once upon a time in a different life she had been able to control time. She didn't miss the nosebleeds, the headaches, and she certainly didn't miss that feeling that she used to get… that feeling as if the entire world rested on her shoulders. But sometimes… sometimes she missed the excitement of it all. Having dressed in her usual blue jeans and a quirky tee-shirt she regarded herself in the mirror. _Chloe did say that I needed to find my own style… I guess that I already had… I still look like a little kid… I suppose that I should be thankful about that, most girls would be super stoked about aging like me… oh well, at least I got a little taller and my boobs got a little bigger_. She had grown yes, her parents really liked saying that she had "grown into a beautiful woman," but again Max still felt like a kid. Smiling to herself she left the bathroom and made her way downstairs to find her high school sweetheart.

Chloe was exactly where she had expected to find her, sitting on the center of the couch watching the news while leaning over her laptop absorbing even more news. The room stank of cigarettes and as Max approached Chloe she noted that the ashtray that she had cleaned the previous morning was full once again. Chloe had been on the verge of giving up cigarettes, all on her own of course, Max would never think about trying to change her, ever. But lately she had picked the habit back up and she had seemingly increased her intake lately. Already dressed, Chloe greeted Max the same way she did every morning, barely looking up from her computer.

"Guess what our monster of a president is trying to do now." Max sat down next to Chloe and snuggled up next to her and Chloe's stiff posture relaxed somewhat as the two girls became one for a moment. This was Max's new favorite moment of her morning, she knew Chloe was suffering but when she wrapped her arms around her partner she felt the stress seemingly melt away. For very inch Max had grown Chloe had doubled her, just like when they were kids. That trend had continued in every aspect of her development as well. Chloe had matured from a lanky rebellious teenager into the most beautiful woman on the planet, and not just to her. Everywhere they went men and women alike would stare and gape but Chloe ignored them, Max was her world. She still kept her hair dyed blue but she dressed more like a 'professional punk-rocker' these days as she phrased it.

"Well let's see… he's already built a wall, raised taxes, pissed off most of the world, pretty much banned Muslims from entering the country, declared war on football and…" The last words caught in her throat, it felt so weird even thinking it but Chloe finished her sentence for her, her body growing tense once again.

"Made it harder for me to marry you." Chloe's angry and bitter tone hurt Max, thinking back to the day that Chloe had proposed to Max still made her head spin.

Once a year, she and Chloe would travel for a month, usually to Europe. Two years ago, they had been adventuring through Europe and they had stopped by Luxembourg to visit Kevin and Kate in their beautiful home. Victoria, who lived permanently in Paris, had joined the two couples and right in the middle of dinner Chloe had proposed. Everyone had been completely caught off-guard, except for maybe Kevin but he certainly acted surprised. The proposal had been straight forward and blunt and Chloe had acted like it wasn't a big deal at all and had tried to stay super casual about it. But her voice had wavered and cracked while she had asked the question and her eyes had been full of emotion as she had clumsily gotten down on one knee as Victoria screamed and Kate gasped. And of course, Max had said yes. The ring was still beautiful, a single deep blue sapphire surrounded by a dozen small gleaming diamonds. But as Max looked down at her ring she grew sad.

Years ago, when they had first become 'official' they had never been treated differently or cast in any negative light. They were just two people who loved each other and it showed, their love was almost magical. They could walk into a room filled with angry people and just be themselves and soon enough everyone would be smiling… but that had changed. It hadn't been immediate but the government in America had become increasingly conservative, xenophobic, and suspicious. People had started to see them differently, as if they too had been infected with intolerance. It was strange, their relationship had never seemed to bother anyone before but now all they had to do was walk down the street and people would stare and not in a good way. It had slowly become an almost daily occurrence of rude stares, gestures and sometimes even increasingly harsh words. The first time someone had said something rude Chloe almost lost her shit, it was scary. Chloe's reaction hadn't been scary, that had been expected. The words that the man had used, how he had said them, the look on his face as he judged them with disdain, that had been scary. And moments like that had become all too common these days and it frightened her, but it frightened Chloe more.

Slowly but surely Chloe had become almost obsessed with politics and gradually her interest in local politics had spread and now every morning she greedily absorbed everything she could about the state of the world, and it wasn't good. The fighting in Syria just kept getting worse, right now the television was showing images of really intense fighting, the government had lost an airbase or something and had responded by shelling another city. The conflict in Syria had spread throughout the entire Middle East and things just kept getting worse. Initially the world had done their best to help, but other problems just kept popping up.

Russia had all but invaded the Ukraine and the fighting there was getting really, really bad. Half of Europe was gearing up for a war with Russia that seemed almost inevitable and world leaders were almost pleading for the United States to join them. Her country, she almost hated saying that these days, had other problems though. China had become increasingly aggressive lately and was simultaneously 'disputing' its borders with India and almost every other Asian country to their east. North Korea made a new crazy almost comical threat every other day and they now had the nukes to back up these threats. Pretty much the entire US navy was in the Pacific Ocean ready to respond to any threat but neither China nor North Korea seemed to care.

Africa was going through what Kevin called a 'restructuring' period at the moment as well. He and Chloe had talked about it endlessly the last time that they had gone to visit Kevin and Kate. Apparently, and this was according to Kevin and way above her head, due to the arbitrary borders that had been drawn way long ago in Africa hundreds of different cultures had been split up and broken apart. Ethnic tensions were on the rise everywhere and there was constant warfare and ethnic cleansing that seemed to only leave a handful of countries untouched.

South America wasn't much different. Several of the corrupt governments were close to collapse but they weren't going out without a fight. The television had switched to a report where hundreds of protestors in Venezuela had been gunned down by government forces, Max had to look away and did her best to block out the screams and gunfire. The world was a mess and it just kept getting worse.

An immigration crisis had destabilized many countries in Europe as well and Spain was on the verge of collapse as a three-way civil war loomed as rising nationalist tensions threatened to break the country apart. During their last trip to Europe the state of Spain became all too real when they had to cancel their trip there, Kevin had insisted… almost demanded that they not go. Nationalism was quickly becoming the new norm in Europe once again as hardliners took power, impressing their people with grand promises. The television had thankfully switched to a report on one such a hardliner, Lieutenant Colonel Treize Kushrenada.

She had met this man, Kevin worked for him and he had made a surprise visit while she and Chloe had been visiting for no apparent reason. He was charming, aristocratic, and smiled easily but he had made her nervous and Chloe had instantly hated him. Right now, on the television, the man was calling for more nations to join his 'new European Union,' one that was stronger and more militaristic and he seemed to have everyone's attention. So far, with Luxembourg at its heart, the 'Treize Faction' consisted of Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The rising European tensions with Russia were seemingly pushing more and more countries away from the collapsing European Union and into the Treize Faction. Poland's prime minister, among others seemed to be voicing their support all at once, seemingly desperate for protection and security. Max couldn't remember what Kevin exactly did for Treize, but she wished that he and Kate didn't live in Luxembourg, even though they both seemed really happy there.

"Oh look, there's that pompous asshole that Kevin works for…" Chloe groaned as she looked up from her laptop, seemingly noticing the television for the first time. "But yeah… what was I saying… oh yeah… President douchebag is trying to pass through another law making it even harder for us to get married… and it looks like it might go through soon… as soon as you are done college we should get the fuck out of here… maybe go to Canada or Sweden or some shit?" There were still a few countries that seemed to be sane even with the world seemingly falling apart around them. Canada and the Scandinavian countries in particular.

"As soon as I'm done my classes we can go wherever you want… it will suck leaving our families behind but… I agree… we should leave before things get worse." Max snuggled up to Chloe and hugged her harder and she hugged her back as she snorted in response to her words.

"Running away from something again… I guess that's just what I do… but yeah… fuck this place. As soon as you are done school we should definitely bounce…" Max, naturally, was attending Seattle University for photography and she was so close to completing her studies, it made her giddy. Though, if the worst happened she was tempted to pack up her bags and run away with Chloe to anywhere else, her photography was bringing in as Chloe liked to say 'hella' cash' already.

Their house in Seattle was really nice, not as nice as Kevin and Kate's house but her money had certainly provided. Max felt sad thinking about leaving though, she and Chloe had poured their hearts and souls into making their home beautiful and it would be a shame to leave it behind. She had even helped Chloe get a 'new' truck, it was still an older vehicle but they had purchased it from a local man instead of finding it in a junkyard. Chloe, of course, still had her old truck stashed away in their garage but she had stopped working on it months ago, she rarely did anything for fun anymore.

Chloe had finished high school and even, to Max's surprise, secretly started working on getting a degree from the local community college. When Chloe wasn't obsessing over politics and world events she spent her days busily working as a mechanic, a tattoo artist, and took and left other odd jobs when they interested her for a week or two. Even though Chloe used to constantly excite herself about the money that Max made with her photography she still almost obsessively did her best to bring home as much money as she could, never wishing to take Max for granted.

"Come on Chloe… we should make breakfast… I'm starving!" As she said this her stomach growled hungrily. Chloe turned to face her for the first time and a slight smile crept onto her face and Max braced herself for her customary morning teasing. She was shocked as Chloe instead drew her into a firm and passionate kiss. She tasted of cigarettes and smelled as she always did, of a mixture of cigarette and weed smoke but Max had grown accustomed to this a long time ago. Max kissed her back and hungrily devoured Chloe's desperate kisses. She allowed herself to be pushed down onto the couch and as Chloe began to undress her she sighed with anticipation, it seemed that breakfast would have to wait.

* * *

Kevin awoke with a start and quickly ascertained that Kate had let him sleep in, again. He wasn't necessarily upset about this and he was certain that she had intentionally tip-toed around their large house so that she wouldn't wake him. Work was hard on him, very, very hard but he immediately cut off his thoughts of work, his vacation had started exactly three days ago and he was excited. He wasn't just excited about their trip back to Oregon to visit Kate's family, he was excited that for the first time in a while he would have the time and energy to obsess over his amazingly gorgeous, talented, heartwarming fiancé for three uninterrupted weeks. Three whole weeks with Kate, plus the last three days he had spent mostly exclusively sleeping. His mind could almost not wrap itself around how much time that three weeks felt like. He knew that it would probably end before he knew it but he was determined to make the most of it.

Jumping out of bed he showered and dressed in a hurry and raced down-stairs and went in search of Kate in a seeming maniacal fury. He had plans, big plans for their vacation. Today they would be leaving Luxembourg and they would spend a week in Oregon with her family and then they would be heading to Ontario to visit his family for another week. The final week they would spend together, alone, in an almost honeymoon like getaway in Sicily. Checking the time, he calculated that he most certainly had enough time to drive Kate insane before they had to depart for the airport and as he dashed around the house he finally caught sight of her.

As he had bounded through their spacious kitchen he had caught site of her in their lavish backyard that she had painstakingly gardened herself. He would have helped her but she had kindly told him that she wanted their backyard to feel like a natural paradise, not an ordered display like he had done with their front yard. _I'm so glad that she didn't let me help her…_ he thought as he watched her graceful figure wander through their majestic garden. She was completely captured in the moment as she played her violin and as she moved deeper into their gardens he caught his breath.

Kate had been a beautiful girl when he had met her years ago at Blackwell, she was now the most enchanting woman in the universe. Her dirty-blonde hair flowed freely down past her shoulders at the moment even though she still usually kept it in a neat bun. She was wearing a simple yet beautiful dark blue dress that flowed around her as she moved. Kate always dressed conservatively and did her best to hide her enticing womanly features that she had developed over the years but that didn't stop people from staring nonetheless. As Kevin watched her he felt as if he was frozen in time and if she were next to him at the moment he was almost sure that he would have acted just as foolish as he had when they had first met.

 _Damn that feels like so long ago… five years wasn't that long ago…_ Kevin had finished his time at Blackwell and to his surprise he had been invited to attend a new college in Luxembourg that had only recently been established. Even more surprising the small college in Ettelbruck, Luxemboug had absolutely nothing to do with photography. He would have summarily dismissed the idea of attending but after his graduation the boy who looked just like him had returned and suggested that he attend. When he had asked why his duplicate had finally gone into detail about his offer.

His duplicate had many powerful friends and one of those friends was an up and coming aristocrat in Luxembourg, Treize Kushrenada. If Kevin chose to accept the invitation he would want for nothing but he would have to dedicate himself to his 'job'. This job offer was officially for a 'Wargame Designer and Consultant' but in reality, it was training, hard training. Five days a week Kevin was trained in military tactics, hand to hand combat, weaponry, increasingly impossible wargames and perhaps the weirdest thing that Kevin had ever experienced. As it was explained to him, Max's powers had awakened a power within him that needed to be honed and developed and his duplicate had been doing just that for years. The secretive training was intense, physically and emotionally draining, and completely out of this world.

Over the years he had become proficient in abilities he could have only dreamed of previously. Telekinesis, mind reading, manipulation of others' thoughts, seemingly super-human strength and endurance, greatly enhanced reaction times, the ability to see even though his eyes were closed, and much, much more. These, Jedi powers, as his duplicate referred to them as, were as mysterious as they were incredible. Offering very little explanation about them he constantly and endlessly drilled into him a very dark warning. He was never, under any circumstance to use his powers in anger, ever.

Kevin remembered that his duplicate had done exactly that when he had avenged his tortured and long deceased love and had brought this up. His duplicate had responded carefully but grimly.

"Anger, jealousy, rage, hatred… all of these will increase your strength exponentially but at the same time they will consume you. If you make the same mistake that I did you will be lost, everything good around you will turn to ash, you will never know peace. If you go down this path you will never again be able to walk into the light, down that path is only darkness…" And as his abilities matured and his powers increased he was able to sense that darkness within his duplicate and it terrified him. It hung around his teacher like a toxic cloud of consuming evil and it soon became clear that he struggled against it every single day. His duplicate's very existence was a walking reminder of what he could become if he chose to ignore his warnings and that was more than enough to terrify him.

After many sleepless nights and much deliberation, he had decided to tour Luxembourg to see what little he could of what would lay in store for him. Very little had been revealed to him but it had been enough to convince him that this is what he wanted to do, he wanted to follow in his duplicate's footsteps and become something more than just himself. The Jedi stuff had come much later of course but now he was certainly a force to be reckoned with. Even without his mystical powers he had been forged into something incredible. Physically he was exceptional and even though Kate had watched him develop from a scrawny teenager into what he was now she had initially been very suspicious.

His 'work' shouldn't have been physically demanding after all and she never saw him work out at home, ever. He carefully explained it away that it had been required of him to train with the soldiers at his college, even though he was only a consultant he was still technically part of the military. She had accepted this response but he could tell that over the years she had grown suspicious of what exactly he did every day at 'work' and he hated the mounting number of secrets that he was forced to keep from her. She, as perceptive as always, noticed this too so she slowly stopped asking. As suspicious as she might be she loved their life, their home, and the comforts that it provided.

When Kevin had first come to Luxembourg he had arrived alone but he had immediately felt Kate's absence and after spending a few months in exile from her he had returned to Oregon to surprise her with his affection. They had, of course, kept in contact while he was away but their distance had only redoubled the affection that they had felt for each other and he easily convinced her to join him overseas. It had been difficult leaving her family at first but her monthly trips back to them soon became bi-monthly and slowly but surely, they became annual. He had, naturally, hastily proposed to her just before her first trip back to visit her family. This rash maneuver had resulted in some unexpected results and he had been allowed to go with her for some already much needed time away from 'work'.

Ever since that day where as he was dropping her off at the airport he had knelt down on one knee and proposed to her, every moment with her had felt like a honeymoon. They had never really talked about when they were actually going to get married, it just wasn't necessary. Her parents seemed to think so but she ignored them, she was happy. She had finished her college education extraordinarily fast and spent her time devoting herself to several different pursuits. Her artwork immediately went into the creation of a very successful series of children's books that covered a wide range of topics but a reoccurring theme was the negative impact of bullying. She worked as a teacher and as a counselor for several different schools in the area. She volunteered at the local children's hospital and still found time to help out with several of the local churches and their activities. She quickly mastered French, Italian, and was slowly beginning to surpass Kevin's abilities with German and Dutch. Kevin spoke passable German himself but his Dutch was debatable, his French was lousy and his Italian was a joke, quite literally exactly. The only Italian he knew was a series of jokes that Kate had taught him, save for a few words he had learned from movies.

Snapping out of his embarrassingly juvenile state as he watched her wander and play her violin he forced himself into movement and made his way outside. As he quickly approached her she noticed him just in time and almost didn't have enough time to put her violin down before he tackled her. Giggling fiercely from his overwhelming affection she accepted his embrace. As he wrapped his arms around her he wondered how he had gotten so lucky.

"I'm sorry if my playing woke you, I really did try to let you-." Kevin cut her unnecessary apology short as he kissed her. She broke away giggling once more gave him a serious look. "Have you packed mister?" _Shit… I should probably go do that…_

"I had to come see you first…" He tried but she saw right through him.

"You march right back upstairs and pack your bags. You better be ready to leave in a few hours, I don't want to have to put up with your groaning if we miss our flight." She was teasing him of course, but she was serious about it nonetheless. _She's right… as usual… if we miss the flight I'm going to be impossible to deal with…_

"I will! I will! I really just had to see you first!" He said in mock exasperation and kissed her again and again causing her determined expression to falter and she giggled again, accepting the kisses.

"I'm still surprised that they let you have so much time off, they work you far too hard! They better start going easier on you or else I'll march down there and tell that Kushrenada exactly what I think of him!" Kevin knew that she was serious, the last time the man had stopped by on one of his rare unannounced visits Kate had done exactly that. Kevin had only met the extremely confident and calm aristocrat a half a dozen times but she had managed to fluster him with her aggressive demands and her accusing tone.

"I am too, but who am I to question it… is Alice already at the neighbors' house? I didn't see her this morning." Kate nodded glaring at him for a moment to show that she had noticed how he had changed the subject. Alice, Kate's pet rabbit and faithful companion had already been transferred to their next-door neighbors' house for caretaking while they were away. Kate was serious, she was ready to go and the only thing that hadn't been done in preparation for their vacation was the packing of his bags. Kevin was actually shocked that she hadn't done it for him while he was sleeping but then again it might have woken him up so that did make sense. Kissing her one last time he released her and went off to prepare for their trip. Once he was done she would no doubt remind him about all the things he was forgetting and as he went back inside he wondered if he should intentionally leave a few other things out just to see how good she was.

She was, of course, very good. Everything that he had forgotten she patiently reminded him about without even looking over his work. Once he had retrieved all of these items she had looked over his luggage and immediately noticed that something was amiss.

"Kevin Thomas Anderson! You intentionally forgot your toothbrush didn't you!" _Damn she's good!_ Kevin couldn't help but smile from ear to ear as she glared at him in, what he hoped, was mock frustration. It was, but she tackled him onto their bed all the same.


	2. Chapter 2: Treachery

**Chapter 2: Treachery**

No memorial service would be held for his fallen soldiers aboard the _Night Hammer,_ his personal soldiers weren't actually official members of his standing forces. As Kevin gloomily made his way to his stateroom he once again cursed himself for agreeing to so many infuriating rules concerning what he could and could not do. According to the rules that he had so foolishly agreed to, none of his standing forces nor Treize Faction personnel were permitted to engage in combat missions on planet Earth unless Treize Kushrenada himself gave permission… and he never did.

Kevin's standing naval forces had one single purpose, to protect Earth from outside aggressors and long-ago Kevin had felt like this had been the best use of his overwhelming power. Along with the _Night Hammer,_ a 'Super' Star-Destroyer class dreadnaught, the largest ship in his fleet, he had a dozen Imperial-Class Star-Destroyers and four Victory-Class Star-Destroyers. The 'Imperial' class ships were by far superior in almost every way to the 'Victory' class ships boasting heavier armaments, shields, armor, but they were slower and less agile because of this. The 'Victory' class ships were more agile and faster than their more heavily armed counterparts which made them a valuable addition to his fleet. The only other capital ship that he commanded looked like a Star-Destroyer but it wasn't. His Immobilezer 418 Cruiser, the _Surprise_ , wasn't designed for pitched battle but instead was an area control ship that was able to create a gravitational anomaly that blocked hyperspace travel. Once activated, the gravitational anomaly would prevent any ship from escaping into hyperspace and unmercifully tear any nearby ship that was in hyperspace back to 'real' space.

Kevin's impressive fleet made him the most powerful person in this solar system and if he wanted he could easily conquer the planet. He lacked significant numbers of ground troops, and personnel for his fleet in general, but the mere presence of just one of his ships in orbit of Earth and he could bring the planet to its knees. Especially since the planet was doing an impressive job of tearing itself apart and even though Treize now commanded a large and respectable military presence of several nations he adamantly refused to disrupt the 'natural order' of the world.

Arriving at his annoying large stateroom Kevin threw himself behind his desk and glowered at his surroundings. The _Night Hammer_ was a command and control ship that boasted more everything than any other class of ship that he was familiar with. With this in mind it was expected that only the top echelons of Imperial officers would command such mighty warships so his stateroom was lavish in every sense of the word. However, this ship no longer served its Imperial masters and the Empire was dead and gone, _good riddance._

Kevin had made his stateroom his own over time and it boasted an impressive library of literature and a few artifacts from around the galaxy. His favorite item that he had procured was the famed and forgotten 'Mask of Revan'. According to his research into Sith lore and history, Darth Revan had once been a Jedi who turned Sith and then turned back to the light. Apparently, and almost logically, he had gone crazy and thousands of years ago had declared war on both the Sith Empire and the Old Republic and he had apparently been such a force to be reckoned with that they had paused their seemingly never-ending war and banded together to crush Revan and his so called Revanites.

An incredible power was imbued within the mask and every time he wore it he could feel Revan's presence lending him his power, seducing him, enticing him, goading him. Revan had been a Jedi and a Sith but he had become something more. Though Kevin had never actually been a Jedi, he aspired to be like Revan and strived to combine both sides of the coin. The darkness gave him power but he used his powers for the light.

But no matter how hard he tried to do the right thing there was always something that stood in his way. He had found ways around Treize's rules and had formed his own force, independent from his naval forces and the Treize Faction and over the years they had fought all over the world as they toppled dictators, assassinated warlords, dismantled drug cartels, destroyed or simply stolen weapons of mass destruction, and fought the good fight whenever and wherever possible. His team was so good at what they did that the credit for all of their exploits had gone to someone else, they simply didn't exist.

Two of his soldiers had now embodied this state of nonexistence quite literally, they were dead and gone. His team had held a memorial service for them and added their bodies their slowly expanding graveyard and their names to the lengthening list of the those that had fallen. Close to one hundred names made up this list and every single name marked a failure on his part. Each name cut him deep and personally, each name was a reason for him to hate himself just a little more. _I need more power, I need more resources, even with all of our successful deployments the world still burns around us…_ The problem was that he had more power, more power than anyone on Earth, but because of the rules his ships simply sat in orbit, slowly decaying.

Luckily, years ago, he had found a planet in a neighboring star system that could support human life and his fleet had colonized it. The neighboring star, which was actually a binary pair of stars, _Alpha Centauri_ and _Proxima Centuari_ , had a number of planets orbiting them and one was almost identical to earth. Years of work had turned their colony on this literal 'Garden of Eden' into a sprawling farming community and they had quite recently completed construction of orbital shipyards. This small colony however could barely support his massive fleet, but it was better than nothing. The materials for their shipyard facilities had actually been provided by a third party.

Kevin had made a long list of friends during his adventures and a web of alliances spread throughout the stars close and far. His largest and closest ally, the Taidan Empire, supported him with men and material quite often and their latest gift had been his new shipyards. New was a relative term, and the shipyards had needed to be heavily modified to support his Star Destroyers but the gift had been a precious one all the same. He had his incredibly close relationship with the Taidan Empress to thank for their implacable support, she did everything within her power to help him whenever she could. The rumors around his fleet didn't surprise him, it was said that long ago he had wooed the empress so successfully that she now pined for him to return to him and that she showered him with gifts in an attempt to win him back. This couldn't be further from the truth, but he would never reveal the truth behind the relationship, not to anyone.

An alert sounded on one of his consoles and he quickly ascertained that the illustrious and so-called Lieutenant Colonel Treize Kushrenada was reaching out to him. _What the hell does he want…_ _he better not be inviting me to another one of his extravagant balls, he has to know by now that I won't come…_ Accepting the transmission Kevin didn't bother to hide his black mood and remained slumped in his chair. Treize's hologram appeared and as usual he was extravagantly dressed as aristocrats of his status usually were. As usual, Treize got straight to the point.

"I see your losses in Syria weigh heavily upon you. I hope that the rebels are able to hold onto that airfield long enough to make the sacrifices of your men worth it." Kevin wasn't surprised that Treize had finally found out about the private army that he was building, he had probably always known but not said anything because it hadn't suited him. The aristocrat's intelligence network was as impressive as it was unnerving, if something happened on Earth he would find out about it almost immediately.

"Calm down 'Master' Treize, I broke none of your precious rules. The activities of my men are of no concern to you, nor are their sacrifices." Treize's closest subordinates affectionally called him 'Master' and Kevin had mockingly added the accolade in attempt to put the man off balance but his comment appeared to have no effect.

"In contrast to what you believe, your activities are always of great interest to me." He paused, clearly as if he didn't already know exactly what he was going to say. "But perhaps, if I may, suggest that your interventions in the Syrian civil-war are prolonging the conflict." Kevin frowned back at the hologram that seemed to be silently judging him. Forcing himself to sit up straight he felt his expression turn hard as he responded.

"You're saying that I'm making things worse…" Kevin scoffed angrily.

"Indeed."

"Even though I'm helping out the good guys."

"Good and bad are irrelevant at this point. You are assisting the losing party, you must have realized this. The rebels are doomed and eventually, even with your assistance the regimes' forces, backed by Russia, will regain control of their country."

"Then help me damnit! You have one of the world's largest and most powerful armies behind you, use it!" Treize's complexion remained placid and his calm demeanor only infuriated Kevin more.

"Why would I squander my forces in a fight that means nothing to me?"

"Because it would be the right thing to do!"

"Politically it would be suicide, if I were to back the Syrian rebels it would put us into direct conflict with their Russian masters, this I cannot afford."

"You are already in conflict with Russia! I know that you've pledged forces to defend Ukraine when Russia invades again!"

"Russia never invaded the Ukraine, even though they successfully annexed Crimea… and I predict that as they slowly devour the Ukraine, Russia will never actually invade. It's all rather clever really, you have to admire their scheming."

"So, your pledge to defend the Ukraine means nothing then? Russia will slowly conquer the country and you will do nothing because of semantics?"

"And this upsets you?"

"You're damned right that it upsets me! I won't sit by and watch the world tear itself apart!"

"But that's exactly what you promised that you would do?"

"No! I promised that I would protect the planet, not watch it burn!"

"You are protecting the planet, from outside threats. I do not interfere with your admirable efforts and you are not supposed to interfere with terrestrial matters…"

"I will not stand by as you wait for the world to tear itself apart so you can become the ruler of what's left! Don't you dare for a second think that I don't see what you are planning you scheming bastard!" Treize looked authentically wounded by his harsh words but Kevin knew that it was a ploy, just like everything the man did his facial expressions were calculated and precise.

"You wound me dear friend. If world domination was what I desired I would have simply pushed for the invasion plan that we threw away years ago… I have other matters to attend to… I will contact you again once you have calmed down and are ready to listen to reason." Without another word Treize's image vanished and Kevin was left feeling more aggravated than he had in a long while. _Treize is playing me… I know exactly why he's tearing apart the European Union and forming his own little empire… he wants control of everything… that's what people like him want, I've seen it before. If you think I'm going to sit around and do nothing while you slowly take over the world then you know me less than you think…_ Moving quickly Kevin contacted Admiral Daala on the bridge and she answered immediately. Her face instantly grew concerned as she noticed his mood but she hurriedly covered her reaction and made her face blank and emotionless.

"Signal the fleet Admiral, I want everyone mobilized and ready for combat within the hour." Natasi's blank expression hardened as she blinked in confusion but she saluted nonetheless and prepared to carry out her orders.

"Our destination, sir?" She asked, almost hesitantly. _As if you haven't already guessed._

"Earth."

* * *

Lieutenant Colonel Treize Kushrenada, or 'Master Treize' as his subordinates affectionally called him, pondered as he sat in his luxurious office. _The world is almost ready, but how much longer can I keep Kevin at bay… his unpredictability is almost too predictable. And yet, he, like a pawn on a chessboard, only needs one simple nudge and he moves exactly where I expect him to. If I read him correctly just now… he may be planning to act too soon._

As if on cue, Colonel Une burst into his office, her normal calm and frigid demeanor lost to panicked haste.

"Master Treize! We-." Raising his white gloved hand in a slow and deliberate movement he motioned for her to stop.

"Lady Une… rash actions always lead to rash decisions. Before you make your report, please, take a moment to collect yourself." Biting down on her lower lip he watched as his subordinate held back a fury within herself and he couldn't help but smile. She was a commanding and powerful woman, but her emotions ruled her and would often lead her to make mistakes. She was a hard woman, no doubt, and as she forced herself to relax her well known steely expression began to form. Her brown hair was always neatly arranged in a double bun and contrasted starkly with her usual cold, shrewd and sometimes arrogant demeanor. Her brown eyes were usually emotionless but were quite lovely when she was caught off guard. There was a different woman lurking somewhere deep inside his colonel, and he desperately wanted to meet her one day. _What have you brought for me today… if I had to guess I would say that Kevin has done something rather foolish._ As he finished his thought he watched as his colonel calmly adjusted her thin circular glasses and straightened out her burgundy uniform. When she finally spoke her voice was hard, barren of emotion, her eyes frigid and calculating.

"Sir, the grand admiral's fleet has been making some unscheduled maneuvers." She paused as if waiting for his reaction but he made none and waited for her to finish. "All the data supports that his fleet is maneuvering to the jump point that will take it straight to earth." _This is not unexpected, but sadly, he has played his hand too early. I'm sorry dear friend, but I can't have you complicating matters._

"Send orders to our assets aboard his ships… the grand admiral has become a threat to us and must be eliminated. His officers are all secondary targets of course, but he must be eliminated." Lady Une nodded and began to turn to make the necessary arrangements but she paused when he signaled that he wasn't finished.

"Sir?" Her eyes softened and the moment was simply beautiful. For a fraction of a second, she seemed like an entirely different person. But the moment passed quickly, too quickly for Treize's liking but there were more pressing matters than unravelling his subordinates hidden personality at the moment.

"Kevin Anderson is to be isolated as well, we will need to move quickly before he leaves the country, we mustn't allow him to slip out of grasp."

"Isolated… but not neutralized?" She asked coldly as she clarified his orders.

"Harm to him is unnecessary at this time… but if he resists…" She nodded and seeing that he was still deep in thought, patiently awaited his next words. "We will need to take appropriate steps to ensure his obedience, Kate Marsh will be with him, we will need to use her… bring her in as well."

"Anything else, master Treize?" She was always so eager to spring into action and she was impatiently waiting to be unleashed to send forth his orders.

"The girl who can manipulate time… we will need her and her friend as well… we can't have her interfering with our plans." Clearly surprised he was rewarded with another enchanting display of uncertainty as his subordinate stared at him.

"Do you really think that girl is a threat to you?"

"No, but her abilities are of interest to me, we shall use her… friend as leverage of course, bring them to me."

"And what of the Fringe team, will they be a threat to your plans?" Treize thought for a moment and shook his head dismissively. _An interesting notion, you are so very clever when you take the time to think my dear, so very clever._

"Those pieces should be left on the board for the moment… send our best, we will need the board cleared of obstacles before the grand admiral's fleet arrives." With a nod of dismissal, he unleashed her to carry out his orders and she briskly saluted and quickly left the room. _The world isn't ready for you my friend, it's such a pity that you sprang into action, such a pity._

 _At least this part of our mornings was still the same_. Max and Chloe always cooked together, and that hadn't changed. Joyce, Chloe's mom, had instilled in both of them amazing abilities in the kitchen and a love for the culinary tradition. Chloe usually made things quite difficult during the breakfast procedure though, she was always so frisky in the mornings. Luckily, today her lust had been satisfied and Max was still trying to calm herself after the erotic experience. _Why do I have to be such a nerd… the only thing I want to do right now is drag her upstairs and… you have class today Max… focus. Thank God Chloe isn't toying with me as she usually does, if she touches me just once I might lose it._ Chloe, to Max's surprise, kept her hands to herself and she almost wished that she hadn't, almost.

After a quick breakfast she was ready for the day and a good thing too, she had only minutes left if she wanted to leave and still be on time for her classes. She hated leaving Chloe though so with the few remaining minutes she clung to her and relished in the moment as the time vanished all too quickly. _I can be late today… I just want a few more minutes…_ Max's thoughts however were brutally interrupted as the sound of screeching tires exploded from just outside their front door. Almost immediately someone was pounding on their door and Chloe forced Max behind her. Before Max could move or say anything their door was forced open and two armed men barged in, weapons at the ready. Max would have screamed but somehow her mind focused and she was somehow able to remain calm and analyze the situation as it happened almost in slow motion. It was because of this that she was able to stop Chloe in mid-motion as she reached for the gun that she kept secreted away in the desk near their front door. Chloe struggled at first but relaxed when she saw how calm Max was.

"You girls need to come with us, now!" Chloe, ready to unleash her rage upon the two men that had broken down their door and burst into their home took a step towards them despite the tense situation but again Max held her back.

"It's… Hans right… and Canderous?" Max asked hesitantly to Chloe's immediate surprise. The two men froze as if they didn't know what to do, however they soon recovered but remained on edge. She would never forget the men that had followed Chloe into Mark Jefferson's house to rescue her, their faces had hardly changed and Hans was still wearing the same set of sunglasses.

"Damn… how the hell did she know that?" Canderous grumbled as he looked nervously over his shoulder. His partner, Hans ignored the question and holstered his sidearm and calm as ever, reached out towards Max and Chloe.

"You are in danger, please come with us. Kevin sends his regards." Max stopped herself from asking 'which one' because this would further confuse Chloe and she didn't want to have to explain more. Chloe only knew the Kevin that was happily engaged to their friend Kate Marsh so it was probably best that she think that these men were with him, and they very well could be but Max had her doubts.

"It's okay Chloe… we can trust these guys… we should go with them." Chloe hesitated but only for a moment.

"Whatever, you better explain what the hell is going on in the car though, this shit is hella' crazy right now." Max and Chloe were ushered out of the house and into the back of a black sedan before they could say or do anything else. Max found herself in the middle seat with Hans on her left and Chloe on her right and even though she trusted the enigmatic man she nonetheless moved as close to Chloe as she could. The man behind the wheel of the car was unfamiliar to her but he nodded to her and Chloe nonetheless. Before anyone could buckle in the car was speeding away from their house, their broken door hanging ajar. The men were tense and on edge, something was definitely wrong. Something really bad was about to happen or had already happened and her stomach began to slowly turn over on itself. She was almost afraid to ask but she had so many questions.

"Where are we going? What's going on? Is everything alright with Kevin and Kate?" She didn't know why she asked the last question but something deep inside of her had compelled her and she had blurted it out at the last moment. She felt the tension inside the vehicle double as it maneuvered through the light morning traffic and the three men remained silent for a long time. Chloe, oddly silent, grabbed Max's right hand and squeezed it tightly. _Oh no…_

"It's too late for them." Hans responded flatly after what seemed like an eternity. Max wanted to demand to know more but the words would not come to her. A growing sense of panic and shock finally began to worm its way into her and she snuggled up to Chloe and held her tightly as the vehicle tore down the freeway. _Kate… Kevin… please be okay… please…_

* * *

Kevin had detected that something was wrong the moment that they had approached the final security checkpoint. Everyone was on edge, security was too tight, the hall was too empty, he found himself desperately wishing that he had a weapon on hand. Not that he needed a weapon, his abilities would be more than capable of handling any situation but the instinct to have a weapon in his hands still remained. Just as soon as he had stepped through the metal detector several grim looking security personnel approached him from the front and he sensed several more approaching from behind. Kate was still on the other side of the checkpoint and he quickly motioned for her to join him. Something seemed eerily wrong and if he was going to keep her safe he needed her close.

His quick motion caused every security officer around him to hastily draw their weapons and Kate screamed as the few other people in line were ushered out of the way. Kevin quickly analyzed his situation and noted the seven threats in front of him and the five behind him. Reaching out with his senses he touched their minds and seeded them with doubt and worry and almost immediately he noticed a few of them take tentative steps back, their weapons shaking. Slowly, not to cause alarm he raised his hands over his head and he felt their minds relax as he seemingly surrendered. The deliberately sluggish movement however was a ploy, he needed time to summon the strength to focus his mind.

Shock, panic and disbelief exploded in their minds as the magazines in their sidearms dropped out of their guns and their weapons ejected the rounds that had been loaded into the barrels. As a dozen magazines clattered onto the floor Kevin sent forth a burst of energy that knocked every one of the confused threats clear off of their feet and he spun around, keeping himself between Kate and the remaining threats and sent a second attack towards the fumbling and retreating security guards.

With the area now clear of threats he grabbed Kate by the arm and plotted the fastest route out of the airport but he found Kate unable to move, her eyes were fixed on him in a state of shock. Suddenly realizing what he had just done he stopped, he had acted on instinct and quickly neutralized all of the threats around him but he had used his powers in front of Kate and she was now looking at him as if she didn't know him anymore. He felt his heart ache as her penetrating gaze of disbelief tore through him but he steeled himself, _get out of here first, talk later._

"Kate, we need to get out of here, please, do you trust me?" Kate took a step away from him and their arms stretched out as she backed away but she didn't struggle away from his grasp. Unable to back away further she finally blinked and looked around her slowly and then back into his eyes. She hesitated a moment before she nodded and some of the color that had disappeared from her face returned. Kevin took a moment to send a flood of reassuring feelings into her panicked mind, she resisted initially but almost immediately took comfort in them and clung to them.

A rush of movement from both ends of the long hallway caught his attention and his thoughts of freedom sank. Dozens of Treize Faction special forces, fully armed, tense but confident, quickly surrounded them on both sides. Their minds were cold and their moves efficient and he sensed all too quickly that the soldiers behind him had their weapons trained on Kate and their fingers on their triggers. There were far too many, he wasn't strong enough to deal with so many all at once and he had no way of making sure Kate would be safe. Intense feelings of defeat grasped his beating heart and a strange voice cackled in the back of his mind, _you… have… failed… her._ Kevin's grasp on Kate's arm slackened and it fell to his side but before he could signify that he was surrendering he heard Kate scream from much farther away than she should have been.

Kevin's mind reeled as he realized that he was lying motionless on the floor and his entire body had gone numb. Memories of a lighthouse and a dramatic encounter came flashing into his mind as Kate's screams drew more distant. _Relax… they just stunned you, this has happened before._ But his thoughts were countered by the strange laughter that exploded from the darkest parts of his mind. _You have failed her!_

* * *

 _Something has happened…_ Kevin reached out with his feelings but the answers eluded him. His dark thoughts were interrupted as an alert demanded his attention. Admiral Daala's image suddenly appeared in front of him and saluted. _This must be urgent… she rarely forces herself upon me like this._

"Admiral?" He asked his voice steady, not wishing to worry her he masked his worries with an outwardly calm appearance. Either he hadn't been entirely successful or else something else worried her, she seemed less collected as usual.

"Sir… a dozen officers and crewmen are demanding to speak with you… I know that it's unusual but they are being quite persistent. Apparently, they have misgivings about our maneuvers."

"I am guessing that they are all recent additions to our crew, perhaps recruits from earth itself?" Natasi nodded slowly, her face full of worry. It had been difficult at first but slowly they had started recruiting people from earth who were seemingly at the end of their ropes. It was important that the people that they welcomed to their ranks had no connections since the moment they joined it would be impossible for them to go back. Many seemingly broken and desperate people had joined their ranks and with varying amounts of time, training and some therapy they became willing and able additions to their crew. The additions weren't nearly enough but every single one helped fill the massive need for manpower aboard his ships. Slowly, especially the _Night Hammer_ , the ships were being modified so they didn't need so many crew aboard them but the need was still great. Every single person that they welcomed into their forces had something in common though, they lacked a purpose and Kevin had given them one.

"Yes sir," Her response was slow and he waited patiently as she carefully formed her next words. "If you meet with them, you shouldn't do it alone." He thought on this for a long moment and searched his feelings for the source of the danger that he had detected a few moments ago but it seemed far off and distant.

"Your concerns are noted Admiral… I will meet with them alone… send them to the conference room adjacent to my stateroom. I will meet with them there when I am able." Clearly unhappy about his decision she saluted nonetheless and ended the transmission. It would take them time to reach his conference room so he had plenty of time to meditate and search his feelings for the illusive danger that he had detected for a brief moment.

Frustrated with is inability to pinpoint the exact cause of his distress he once again regretted his decision not to take part in Luke Skywalker's fledgling Jedi Academy. The offer had surprised him for several reasons, most of all was that he was technically the 'Dark Lord of the Sith'. Though he had never officially been dubbed as such he was the surviving apprentice of Darth Vader who had been the previous holder of the infamous title. Kevin had turned him down for a number of reasons as well, foremost was the fact that he hated the man more than he hated anyone else living in the galaxy. Luke had been the one to defeat Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, stealing Kevin's ability for revenge. He had wanted to end their lives himself, it wasn't enough that they had perished. Luke had robbed him of his vengeance and he hated him for it. That wasn't all though, it had been Luke's fault that Kiera had died.

 _You left her alone… it's your fault! If you had been there with her she would still be alive!_ Old wounds were torn open and something snapped within his mind and it took every bit of self-control and discipline that he possessed to restrain himself from lashing out at his surroundings. It took a long time for him to force himself to be calm and as his breathing steadied he slowly unclenched his fists. His thoughts went back years ago when he was so much younger and his training at the hands of Darth Vader had grown stagnant.

His training had been rigorous and demanding but no matter how hard he had tried he had always been a disappointment. His punishments had been harsh for his lack of progress but they took a new form of evil when it had been discovered that he had met, and fallen for a troublesome senator's daughter. The senator had been suspected of dealings with the growing rebellion anyway, but Kevin's interest in his young daughter had been what had doomed him. He had been arrested and eventually executed but his daughter was imprisoned and it was promised that if Kevin didn't take his training more seriously she would suffer for it.

Kiera spent less than twelve hours in captivity however, he had easily located where she was being held and freed her. But this had all been allowed to happen and he had been confronted by his master while trying to escape. They had fought and somehow Kevin had bested him. He should have killed the man that day but the young and foolish boy he had once been hadn't been able to murder a defeated opponent so Darth Vader had survived.

Kevin and Kiera, two kids, had fled the Imperial capital of Coruscant and traveled from system to system with numerous pursuers hot on their trail. Their ship, an aging stolen Imperial shuttle had finally given out over Tatooine and they had been forced to abandon it in the wastes of the desert planet. Unfortunately for them the closest refuge had been the moisture farm owned by an elderly couple, Luke's aunt and uncle. The pair had taken the obviously disheveled pair of children in and offered them shelter from the unforgiving desert. Kevin had left Kiera behind as he went off to arrange transport off planet. The pair had been shocked that they were traveling alone at such a young age but he had cast aside their worries easily with his infectious confidence. _You never should have left her…_

Upon returning he had found the small settlement ablaze and everything horrible that could have been done to a young scared girl had been done to Kiera, everything. She died in his arms in the middle of a sentence that changed his life forever. She had struggled against her pain, fought to cling to life so she could confess her love to him with her last dying breath, she had been so brave. But she had succumbed to death's embrace despite her tenacity, her words trailing off mid-sentence and Kevin distinctly remembered the moment her life had left her ruined body.

He had razed the Imperial presence on Tatooine to the ground, one by one he had slaughtered the massively unprepared garrison. His vengeful destruction was soon noticed by the disgruntled populace of the planet and a revolution exploded as hundreds took up arms against their oppressors. Once Kevin had moved on the revolution was quickly and efficiently put down by reinforcements but Kevin's personal war against the Empire had begun, and Luke had robbed him of his final prize. Even worse, he found out much later, that it was Luke's own meddling that had brought the Imperial troops to his home. It was his fault they had found Kiera and dragged her out of hiding to work their evil on her once they had discovered who she really was.

An alert sounded from his conference room bringing him out of his memories, they were ready for him. Kevin took several moments to calm himself once more but he was soon walking into his personal conference room as a dozen grim-faced men and women saluted him as he arrived. He returned their salute and as the doors slammed shut behind him he quickly ascertained the reason for their meeting.

* * *

"We have received word from our agents embedded in the grand admiral's fleet." Lady Une had returned with news concerning their operations, this time however, she maintained her icy composure, not wishing to let him down a second time in one afternoon.

"And?" Treize didn't like the silence that had followed her words nor the words that followed.

"They have joined his forces and are demanding your surrender, sir." Her words were flat and void of emotion even though her eyes showed that inside she was stewing in rage.

"I see." This had always been a concern, of course. Kevin's leadership inspired a great deal of loyalty from those that served under his command. _My agents spent too long with him…_ Treize wasn't surprised though, a part of him had hoped that Kevin would survive his assassination attempt. It was good to hear that his men hadn't perished in the attempt but their losses would have been trivial regardless. "And our other operations?"

"The… other Kevin resisted at first but our forces put him down and he and Kate Marsh are in custody. We are keeping him sedated so his abilities don't cause us any problems." Nodding he allowed a small smile to cross his face, this clone of Kevin's had certainly grown stronger over the years but his men had still been able to overpower him, this was a good sign. "Our agents in Seattle were too late however, it seems that someone extracted Maxine and Chloe before they arrived. They report that they are in pursuit and assure me that they will succeed in their mission."

"Please inform me when they have them then, that is all for now Lady Une." His subordinate hesitated a moment before saluting but as she turned to leave her curiosity finally got the better of her.

"Master Treize… why are we not preparing our defenses? Kevin's fleet will be here in hours…" He smiled warmly at her, his calm and pleasant demeanor surprising her once again.

"Ah, Lady Une, we have no idea that horrific alien invaders are about to descend upon us. It would look suspicious if we anticipated their arrival even if by a few moments, wouldn't it?" His words brought a cruel smile to her lips and she saluted once again, with a marked improvement in enthusiasm he noted.

"Yes, Master Treize, it certainly would."

"Don't worry, the entire world will stand beside us when the grand admiral arrives and he will find himself in a fight that he cannot win, he would never fight the very people that he has sworn to protect and we will be their heroes."


	3. Chapter 3: Contention

**Chapter 3: Contention**

"Oh my God Walter… that's disgusting!" Astrid cried out as Walter removed a large… something from the dead man's stomach.

"I know isn't it fascinating my dear!" Walter responded excitedly, causing Kimmy to groan as her own feelings of revulsion began to take shape.

"She said disgusting Walter… disgusting… as in that thing is gross and you should put it back right now." Walter made a disappointed face as he placed the grotesque fleshy sack that was the size of her head inside a large container and sealed it.

"I always thought you were made of sterner stuff than our lovely Astrix, Ms. Dominic, but it turns out I was wrong."

"Agent Dominic." She corrected him forcibly, fixing the strange man with one of her famous glares. Kimmy had joined the Fringe Team, despite her uncle Charlie's objections a few months after completing her academy training. Walter, like her uncle, was still having difficulty adjusting to her new position but they would get used to it, _they'd better._

"You tell him!" Kimmy excitedly turned around as Olivia and Peter made their way into Walter's lab. Olivia had been the main impetus for her joining the FBI, the woman was her role model and she aspired to be just like her in almost every aspect of her life. The other aspects however… _She needs to smile more and be less serious… maybe if she does that she and Peter will finally stop eyeing each other and do something about their blatantly obvious mutual attraction._ Smiling warmly as both Peter and Olivia approached she received two quick nods and two equally quick smiles. _Uh oh… that doesn't look good, how much more complicated can this case get…_ Her thoughts trailed off as Peter began to pass out steaming cups of coffee to Astrid and Walter and when he turned to her she felt her heart almost burst with joy. _He finally remembered this time, I can tell!_

"And one hot chocolate for our new agent." From the way he smiled and the way his voice trembled slightly as he handed her the beverage she immediately ascertained what had happened.

"Olivia had to remind you, didn't she?" Peter sighed and nodded, his smile growing despite the hard look that she threw his way. She turned to thank Olivia but held back her words when she noticed that Olivia was on her phone and had that look on her face that she got when Broyles was demanding things from her. She watched as Olivia quickly hung up her phone and hastily made ready to leave.

"Broyles needs me, something's up." When asked what was going on by Peter she shook her head, clearly confused. "He wouldn't say but he demanded that I report to headquarters as soon as I could… are you guys okay without me for a while?" As Olivia left in a rush Kimmy sipped her hot chocolate but the rejuvenating effects of the delicious beverage were lost on her as her thoughts consumed her concerning Olivia's hasty departure. _Broyles rarely splits us up like this… what could he possibly need her for that couldn't be handled over the phone, clearly it doesn't involve the case._ An argument that had sprung up between Walter and Peter brought her out of her thoughts and she joined Astrid in trying to calm them down and figure out what exactly the problem was this time.

* * *

They had driven for hours, but apparently they were finally at their destination, which creepily enough was the middle of a dense forest. If Max didn't trust the men she was with complicity she might have started to freak out a while ago but she knew that these men would never harm her, she felt completely safe with them.

"Let's go ladies, come on move!" Canderous began to usher them out of the vehicle but he soon turned to the driver as Hans slowly exited the vehicle. "Come on Gerrard, prep the ship, what's the matter with you!"

"Shut up you oaf!" Gerrard grumbled loudly as he reached for his weapon. "Hans… what's up, everything okay?" Suddenly, Max didn't feel very safe, not at all.

"Get down!" Hans had barely finished calling out his warning when a blue bolt of energy struck him in the chest and he collapsed immediately.

"Ambush!" Canderous screamed and in a flash the massive man was outside the vehicle firing his weapon as he nimbly moved from cover to cover.

"Stay down!" Gerrard screamed moments later he too was firing at unseen enemies as he sought out cover. Chloe threw herself on top of Max and reached out to the unmoving Hans. Her hand came back with the man's sidearm and after a quick inspection she seemed satisfied that it was loaded. While Chloe was busy Max peered outside of the car and saw Canderous fall as several bolts of blue energy struck him all at once. His face was locked in a silent scream as he collapsed onto the ground without a sound. Somehow, Gerrard managed to make it back to the vehicle and he tore open the trunk and wrenched out a scoped rifle and was almost immediately acquiring targets and firing as he ran for cover. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough and Max felt herself suppress a scream of panic as he too collapsed numbly to the ground.

Several seconds of silence followed but all too soon she heard several distinct voices as dozens of figures quickly surrounded the vehicle. Chloe, weapon in hand, looked at her for a long moment and Max saw the desperate look in her eyes.

"Chloe no!" She pleaded but it was too late. As Chloe rose up there was a flash and a blue bolt of energy struck her in the head and she collapsed immediately. This time Max did cry out as Chloe's limp form went still. Suddenly a burst of searing pain erupted in her head. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth as the world spiraled around her. Feeling her consciousness fade she reached out desperately for Chloe's limp form. The pain was too great, the world spun too rapidly, collapsing with exhaustion next to her partner the world went black as the voices drew closer.

* * *

As Olivia walked into Broyle's office she immediately felt herself go cold under his intense glare. He was clearly extremely unhappy about something and as he motioned for her to close the door behind her she knew that something very serious was going on.

"I'm going to cut right to the chase. Why exactly did you suggest that we keep an eye on Maxine Caulfield and Kevin Anderson again?" She felt her mouth go dry as his penetrating gaze bore down on her.

"What happened…" She began but he immediately cut her off.

"Answer the question agent." Taking a moment to collect her thoughts she returned his fierce gaze with her own.

"They had a strong connection to our case but we felt that it was in everyone's best interest that we didn't leave any record of how or why." Broyles' attitude seemed to soften somewhat but he still seemed extraordinarily on edge.

"That wasn't your call to make Agent Dunham… and before you ask again… several hours ago Maxine Caulfield and her fiancé were abducted from their home in Seattle, Washington."

"What? By who? What do we-." Broyles waved away her questions and she cut herself short as he pushed a button on his desk phone and spoke into it.

"Brief Agent Dunham please if you would be so kind Nina." _What does Nina Sharp and Massive Dynamic have to do with this?_ Nina Sharp, the leading representative at Massive Dynamic always seemed to somehow get involved in almost all of her cases and here she was again getting involved in a case that she had thought had been resolved years ago.

"Hello Agent Dunham, let's get right to it shall we?"

"Yes, let's." Too many questions were circling around in her head and she hoped that at least a few of them would be answered when Nina was done speaking.

"Five years ago, Agent Broyles asked me if we could keep an eye on two people for you. He contacted us because he wanted the fewest number of people involved in the surveillance, especially since you were hardly forthcoming with why you wanted tabs kept on these seemingly mundane individuals. Several hours ago, three men were spotted escorting Maxine Caulfield and Chloe Price from their residence and their vehicle proceeded outside of town to a dense forest where they were almost immediately attacked by dozens of armed soldiers. Our satellites are currently tracking the vehicles that these soldiers, and your friends, are in as they make their way to their destination."

"Do we know where they are taking them?" Olivia blurted out the question before Nina could resume speaking, she just couldn't help herself.

"No but we have a fairly good idea. We believe these men to be part of the Treize Faction and we expect them to be heading towards San Francisco International Airport." Nina paused, anticipating Olivia's questions this time.

"Why not a closer airport… and why the Treize Faction?" _What would the Treize Faction want with Max and Chloe…_

"There are indeed closer airports than the one I mentioned but the Treize Faction doesn't own a private airstrip at the closer locations. They also have one of their fancy new high-speed planes on the tarmac in San Francisco as if they are waiting for someone. And before you ask again we believe that the Treize Faction is behind this because the other person you asked us to keep an eye on, Kevin Anderson, was arrested earlier today along with his fiancé in Luxembourg by Treize Faction special forces."

"What? Why?" Olivia found herself asking as her mind grasped for answers.

"We don't know, the details are almost nonexistent. They were arrested while trying to leave the country at Luxembourg International Airport. But we did get our hands on some security footage which does explain why you are so interested in the young man, he put on quite a show. I'll forward the footage to Agent Broyles, you should be able to watch it for yourself shortly." The call ended after she and Broyles exchanged a few words and Nina assured them that her people would keep an eye on the situation and inform them if the convoy of vehicles that they were tracking made any unusual stops. Once the call was over Broyles gave her a searching look as if trying to read what was going on inside her head.

"Agent Dunham, you will proceed immediately to San Francisco and you will join up with and take over command of the FBI task force that will be joining the assault force that is being prepared to intercept this convoy. CTU and Force Recon forces are being deployed as well and overall command of the operation has been given to the senior CTU agent, I hear he's quite good. Under no circumstances are we going to allow foreign agents to abduct two American citizens. Once you have retrieved the girls you are to bring them back here for debriefing and the four of us will have a long chat about what this is all about, do I make myself clear?" Olivia nodded and he brusquely dismissed her. As Olivia rushed out of the office her thoughts went wild as she tried to comprehend what was going on and why an old case had suddenly come back to haunt her.

* * *

Preparations were almost complete; the fleet would soon be ready to move. He had always known that one day he would do this, perhaps this is what he should have done the moment he had come home. _Home… what I fool I am for thinking that this place could have ever been my home… even if I hadn't found a clone in my place this planet never would have been my home…_ Kevin's thoughts trailed off as he stepped onto the bridge of the _Night Hammer_. He had expected to be greeted by controlled chaos but the scene that he discovered was different, but refreshing.

The crew always came up with new ways to impress him, and right now was no exception. The crew were all busily undertaking their duties with professionalism beyond what was expected of Imperial officers. Most of them had served the Empire before but now they served something greater, they served him. He often forgot this simple fact, every single man and women aboard his fleet had chosen to follow him for one reason or another. They had chosen this because they believed in him and they were ready and willing to carry out his orders, no matter what.

It was an almost overwhelming sensation as he watched the men and women on the bridge of the _Night Hammer_ attend to their duties. As he moved about them he made sure that his pride for them showed on his face. Even though they were all seemingly consumed with their work he knew that they would be watching him out of the corners of their eyes. Admiral Natasi Daala was seated at her command chair in the center and behind the many work stations beneath her. _Typical Imperial design, make the crewman feel beneath the commanding officers…_ but there wasn't much that could be done about the bridge design at the moment. Natasi caught his attention and motioned for him to join her. Her shoulder length dark-red hair hung freely down the right side of her dark green uniform. She would have been a beautiful woman in her uniform if her years of service in the Imperial Navy hadn't shaped her into the hardest, coldest, and sometimes angriest woman he had ever known. She was currently unconsciously toying with her hair at the moment with her hand, carelessly wrapping and unwrapping several strands around her fingers as she read a report. _Something is wrong, she always does that when something is wrong… too bad it's almost adorable. If I ever want to die I should tell her that, that will get me thrown out an airlock really quick…_

"Something wrong admiral?" Kevin asked as he approached, keeping his voice neutral and suppressing a smile as she quickly ceased toying with her hair. Her dark green eyes cast their steely gaze upon him as if searching him for the slightest sign of amusement but, finding none, she nodded and motioned towards the report she was reading.

"We lost contact with Lieutenant Hans's team… could be nothing, could be something… but what we do know is that your clone and his pretty little fiancé were nabbed by Treize as they tried to leave the country." _Perhaps this is the danger I felt… perhaps… there are any number of non-critical reasons why Hans and his team would have gone dark… but perhaps my timing with this operation was a little premature. It's a shame that Kevin has been captured but if Treize thinks that he can use him as leverage than he's stupider than I thought, Kevin is a clone and clones are disposable… it is a shame about Kate though… she seems nice…_ His thoughts brought his attention to something else and he did his best to control his emotional response but Natasi immediately noticed his expression. "Don't worry sir, no moves have been made against her… yet. But If Treize knew about her I would have expected him to go for her first."

"Trust me, he knows, he's going to go for her last. He knows that I only have limited resources in play… he's trying to force me to reposition my assets and show my hand too early. I'm not worried." _She doesn't believe me, she can read me too well…_

"There is… something else that needs your attention… though it could be nothing, perhaps a coincidence.

"I don't believe in coincidences." Kevin returned flatly. "Report."

"Two of our long-range satellites have suffered 'catastrophic mechanical failures' and no that doesn't mean that they've been destroyed… the code monkeys were very specific about that. One of them started acting up almost two hours ago, the second about half an hour ago."

"What do your code monkeys think could be happening, we've never had this issue before or is this another maintenance issue?" _Maintenance issues, the whole damned fleet is falling apart and now our early warning satellites are coming to pieces…_ No sooner had that thought crossed his mind when an alert sounded from one of the crew pits and a concerned looking officer turned to look at them.

"We just lost another satellite… it's having the same issue as the previous two…" _Definitely not a coincidence…_

"Show me." In moments Kevin was beside the man and his subordinates in his crew pit and several streams of data played out across his screen. He did his best to decipher and absorb the vast amount of information that played across the terminal but much of it was beyond his comprehension. Shaking his head, he turned to the officer. "Show me a map of these malfunctions, from the first incident to the current one." The officer nodded and quickly brought up a two-dimensional overlay showing the locations and times of each incident. _Shit… that's not good._

"Admiral! Deploy a pair of Tie-Phantoms to these coordinates equipped with observation packages. If I'm right they will arrive just in time to intercept a fleet that's trying to sneak its way into our territory." Natasi quickly carried out his orders but she soon turned back to analyze the coordinates for herself. The Tie-Phantoms were massively upgraded versions of their standard fighter craft. They had been designed with the intention of being an almost invisible strike force due to their unique hull design and material that resisted detection. Kevin's fleet, unfortunately, only had a dozen of the highly experimental craft so they had been delegated as scout craft, their design made them ideal for reconnaissance roles.

"These are for another satellite of ours deeper into our territory… why this one, there are several others that they could go to?" Nodding to the crewmen and their officer he complemented them on their work, causing the men and women to burn bright with pride. Kevin climbed out of the crew pit and made his way back over to Natasi as she continued to analyze the data.

"So far the path that they have been plotting through our territory makes me almost certain that they are making a straight shot for Earth…" He watched as she finally understood and her entire body went tense.

"Where the hell did Treize get a fleet? Everyone that we know wouldn't dare stand against you… does he have friends that we don't know about?" Kevin shook his head before answering, though her analysis did have some merit. _The New Republic has never been outwardly friendly with us but I don't see them attacking us, they know what kind of support I can bring to the table._

"If this fleet were his, he'd have made a grand show of it. He'd have let me see it so I would be forced to split my forces… this is… something else."

"That sounds an awful lot like a coincidence… you know those things that you don't believe in."

"Yes… it certainly does…" Whatever was going on, they would certainly have their answers soon. Kevin watched through the many durasteel view-ports on the bridge as the two scout craft tore away from the _Night Hammer_ and blinked away from view as they made their hyperspace jump to the coordinates that he had provided.

* * *

Olivia arrived at the staging area, a hangar nearby the Treize Faction air-strip, moments after the final briefing had concluded. She had never worked with CTU before nor the Force Recon marines but luckily, she didn't feel too out of place. She was greeted by several FBI agents and they even helped her get geared up. She was quickly provided with a tactical vest and an assortment of gear. While she was gearing up she noticed the man who appeared to be in charge, he had yet to finish gearing up himself, begin to walk towards her with the intensity of a man that did whatever it took to get the job done.

"Agent Dunham? I'm the agent in charge, Jack Bauer." The man, according to her extensive briefing during her flight across the country, was the Director of Field Operations for the CTU or Counter Terrorist Unit for the Los Angeles branch of the agency. She was surprised that she had never had the privilege of working with CTU before but then again, her team rarely cooperated with other agencies outside of the FBI, the cases that they usually dealt with were just too delicate.

"Agent Bauer, I read a lot about you during my flight, I can see why you were given overall command of this operation." The man smiled grimly but seemingly relaxed from Olivia's disarming remark.

"Initially I thought they were sending you to take over… so, why is the FBI so interested in these two girls… and why the hell are these Treize Faction goons trying to make off with them, what's so important about them?" Olivia recognized an interrogation when she saw one but Agent Bauer wasn't really trying to hide the fact that he had initiated one, _blunt and direct… just like his file said._

"I'm sorry but I can't speak about why we are concerned about the hostages but we have very little information on why they were abducted, I was hoping you guys would have more information." The man scoffed at this, seemingly frustrated.

"I have strict orders that these two girls are not to leave the country but I've also been ordered not to cause an international incident. I can't do both if these Treize Faction guys resist… help me out here, anything that you know could help." Even though she appreciated where he was coming from she didn't feel that telling him that Max once had the ability to control time would help him with his orders, _not that he would believe me anyway._

"Again, I'm sorry Agent Bauer, we know just as little as you do concerning the abduction and as for the reason that I'm here… we all have bosses." Her answer didn't seem to satisfy him but there wasn't much he could do about it and he obviously knew this. With one last frustrated scoff he cut straight down to business as they finished gearing up.

Some of the Force Recon marines were already in position, ready to provide sniper support should the situation deteriorate into a shootout. The rest of the marines would assault and pacify the Treize Faction aircraft while the CTU and FBI units would intercept and surround the approaching five-vehicle convoy once it had cleared the final security checkpoint. The more plentiful CTU agents would surround the convoy once it had been stopped while the smaller FBI team would extract the hostages, provided they were surrendered to them. The exact vehicle that contained the hostages was unknown, making the assault all the more difficult. The intercept had been cut down to the wire to reduce civilian presence since it was seemingly almost a certainty that the Treize Faction agents would resist. This was blatantly obvious by the presence of the marines, they were armed to the teeth with the latest weaponry. The CTU agents and her own FBI task-force looked like soldiers themselves, just slightly less armed, but only slightly.

Just as she and Agent Bauer had finished checking over their gear a CTU agent called out that the convoy had arrived and in a flurry of activity the marines boarded their five armored Humvees while their CTU and FBI counterparts piled into a dozen black SUV's. The drive towards the intercept point was tense and short. It must have become apparent what was about to happen to the Treize Faction agents as a dozen vehicles speedily barreled down on them. The two vehicles holding Olivia's team held their course as five CTU vehicles veered ahead of the convoy and the other five moved to cut off any potential escape. The five black sedan's that made up the Treize Faction convoy continued on towards the safety of their aircraft until it became blatantly obvious that the larger CTU vehicles speeding towards them were more than prepared for a head on collision.

Screeching to a halt the convoy kept its line formation and the CTU forces spread out into wide semi-circles around the stopped vehicles, effectively surrounding them. As Olivia's two vehicles' approached the tense scene she noticed the marines in their five armored Humvees begin their assault on the massive dark blue high-speed aircraft. No shots had been fired yet but she could hear the marines barking their demands at the Treize Faction personnel despite the distance between them. Her team's vehicles came to a halt just outside the CTU perimeter just as the situation grew complicated.

All at once the heavily armed Treize Faction agents exited their vehicles while CTU and FBI agents alike piled out of their own and took up firing positions. Olivia's heart sank when she saw that most of their opponents were wearing very heavy battle armor, they had come prepared for a fight. The Treize Faction forces were heavily outnumbered and completely surrounded but their grim determination showed no signs of breaking as the two sides stared back at each other, weapons held at the ready.

Just as Olivia was moving into position behind one of the CTU vehicles a voice called out and her heart stopped.

"Long live Master Treize!" All at once the situation exploded as everyone started shooting. Almost immediately the lighter armored Treize Faction agents fell to the ground but their more heavily armored comrades resisted and wrought devastating damage upon their foes. CTU and FBI agents alike were cut down mercilessly as their own rounds seemingly bounced off their targets. As Olivia fired her weapon feelings of dread began to grasp at her heart as the closest agent to her cried out in pain as a bullet tore through his plate armor. The man collapsed and continued to scream until moments later several more rounds tore through him, rendering his mutilated body silent. All of the sudden the remaining Treize Faction forces began to press away from their vehicles as they continued to pressure their attackers. Just as Olivia's magazine ran dry on her weapon she froze when the closest hostile turned his attention towards her and his armored head exploded.

Reacting immediately several of her heavily armored opponents shifted their attention away from the beleaguered attackers and towards the new, more dangerous threat. The loud report of a far-off shot reached her ears just as another of her opponents collapsed onto the pavement, his head almost completely torn off. More and more of the Treize Faction soldiers turned their attention away from their attackers or sought cover, but as another one of their heads exploded in a sickening display of gore they began to realize their desperate situation. Momentarily relieved of pressure the remaining CTU and FBI agents vengefully redoubled their fire and several of their heavily armored opponents succumbed to the withering fire as their thick armor was overwhelmed. The last three Treize Faction soldiers made a mad dash for the center vehicle but all at once two of their heads exploded and the third collapsed as a well-aimed shot tore through the lighter armor around his neck.

The cacophony of noise and violence immediately and abruptly ended and was replaced by countless voices of the wounded screaming out in pain. Olivia, reloaded her weapon in a quick and practiced maneuver, willed herself into movement, dashing towards the center vehicle that she hoped contained the still living Max and Chloe. Three FBI agents dashed out to follow her, their weapons at the ready. Just as she made it to the vehicle a cry of warning rang out immediately followed by the crack of a gunshot. Olivia and her team dove for cover but as Agent Bauer's exasperated voice reached her ears she registered what had just happened.

"Damnit!" Until a few seconds ago there had been a sole survivor of the Treize Faction forces, but he had turned his own weapon on himself to avoid capture and interrogation. Immediately back on her feet she nodded to her team members and they quickly surrounded the center vehicle and on her orders, they wrenched each door open all at once. Inside she was relieved to find a desperate and frightened looking Chloe and an unconscious Max. She had panicked at first and called out for a medic when she had caught site of blood on Max's face but she quickly saw that it was dried blood from a nosebleed that must have occurred some time ago. Chloe, tears in her eyes pleaded with Olivia and her agents that Max needed help, something had happened and she wouldn't wake her up. With the help of her agents, they cut the bonds on both of the girls and carefully extracted Max's unmoving form from the vehicle as Chloe hovered around them. The other agents had tried to keep her back but had clearly given up when they realized how relentlessly persistent she was.

A massive number of emergency vehicles were fast approaching and as they lay Max onto the tarmac Agent Bauer ran towards them, his face white and his left arm covered in blood. As he approached he swore again at the sight of Max, clearly believing her dead or wounded. CTU agents were searching and clearing the other vehicles of threats and they made a surprising discovery. Three unconscious and bound men were found in the trunks of a few of the vehicles and as the medical personnel scrambled onto the scene to treat the wounded the all clear was finally given. Olivia mentally chastised herself for being so careless towards the end but she had become consumed with the desire to see if Max and Chloe were safe. As she checked over Max she began to worry though, the girl's pulse was week but steady and her breaths were shallow. However, just as her worries began to consume her the girl slowly opened her eyes. Seemingly in a daze she looked around at her surroundings until her eyes focused on Chloe.

"Chloe… what…" Max's words became indecipherable as she cried out in pain, her hands tightly clutching her head.

"Max!" Chloe was beside her in an instant, practically knocking two of the FBI agents to the ground as she barreled through them. "What's happening! What's wrong?" Max's sudden burst of pain had subsided and she breathed heavily, her eyes wide as she looked at her friend.

"Chloe? You look so… different… how did… how did I get here?" Suddenly something clicked inside of Olivia's head and she leaned over Max and motioned for Chloe to give her some room and allow her to speak. Chloe adamantly refused to move away but she kept quiet nonetheless. Olivia cleared her throat and introduced herself and the dazed looking Max stared at her blankly, as if seeing her for the first time.

"Max… What's the last thing that you remember?" Slowly Olivia saw panic rise inside of Max and she felt the same panic creep its way into her. Chloe paled as the words slowly came out of Max's trembling and unsure lips.

"I was in… class… there was a storm…the lighthouse… I had to get the lighthouse…" Her voice trailed off as she struggled to remain conscious but her efforts failed. She passed out and despite Chloe's increasingly desperate protests she refused to wake once more. Olivia was instantly on her feet, shouting out orders to the agents beside her.

"We need to get her out of here now! I want her stabilized and ready for transport immediately!" Max's consciousness had seemingly reverted back to the day that she had gained access to her powers and Olivia was certain that his could only mean one thing. Her powers were struggling to come out once more, something had triggered them but Max's mind was resisting and this internal conflict could be causing untold damage within the poor girl. She needed to get her to Walter, and quickly.

* * *

In a rare display of emotion Treize slammed his white gloved fist down onto his ornate mahogany desk.

"The fools!" Shocked and almost appalled by his display Colonel Une stared at him, her mouth agape as she slowly formed words…

"But Master Treize…" Her words trailed off as she struggled to regain her composure but before she could start speaking again Treize instantly collected himself and when he spoke his voice was calm and without emotion.

"Lady Une… those men were not meant to be martyrs. Their orders were to surrender the girls if they met any resistance. Due to our unique status on the world stage they would have been allowed to leave the country without interference. But the fanatical fools decided to make a stand and now the natural order has been disrupted. The damage that this one incident has caused could be the spark that brings everything crumbling down around us… what is the status of our last operation?" Colonel Une, having had time to find her voice hesitated a moment before speaking.

"I was about to clear them for the operation…" Her voice trailed off once again as he shook his head.

"Cancel it, immediately… we can't afford to bring any more attention to ourselves now. I want the men to stand down and abort the mission. Please Lady Une, relay those orders for me, make them understand that I do not wish them to proceed." She nodded and saluted before walking out.

He let out a calming breath as he read the report once more. Despite the situation his men had done well thanks to their new weapons and experimental armor. More than half of the heavily armed federal agents opposing them had died and several of the marines had perished assaulting their craft. This was good news but the bad news far outweighed it. The United States would now see his organization as the enemy and convincing them to work with him in the future would be problematic and take a great deal of finesse. As he read the report he found himself smiling as familiar name jumped out at him.

"It appears that I have underestimated you Agent Dunham, a toast to you." As he said this he reached out and delicately grasped the crystal glass on his table that contained the most flawless wine on the planet. He raised the glass high into the air and reverently tasted the liquor and lavished in the experience, _perfection._

As he finished the report he discovered an inconsistency. The Force Recon marine snipers reported only five confirmed kills with their heavy caliber rifles while only three of his special forces soldiers were reported to be brought down by standard small arms fire from the federal agents. The remaining four soldiers had all been brought down by single well-placed shots in the weakest parts of the armor. The battle between mobility and protection was a difficult one and the head of a solider needed maximum flexibility in combat so by design their necks were vulnerable. However, the danger of the weakness had been greatly reduced by clever design and was only exposed at a certain angle of elevation. Whoever had done this knew of this weakness and had positioned themselves carefully to take advantage of it.

Smiling, Treize raised his glass a second time in honor of this unknown opponent. He didn't have hard information at the moment, but if he had to guess, he would say that the grand admiral had managed to outmaneuver him. As he thought more about it and analyzed the CTU, FBI, and Force Recon reports further he became certain that Kevin had somehow managed to either integrate some of his own forces into this task force without their knowledge, or his forces had managed to assist without being noticed.

"Well played dear friend, well played."

* * *

"Hey Glaz! You're famous my friend!" Fuze called out as he passed over his data pad. Glaz calmly accepted it from his friend seated to his right and read the highlighted paragraph and the sudden tensions that sprung up inside of him vanished as a slow smile crept across his face.

"Were we spotted?" Ela or Zofia, he could never tell, called out from the back of their non-descript mundane looking van. Everything about their vehicle was unexceptional, except for the five well trained killers and their gear inside.

"No, stupid girl, but none of the jarheads took credit for his kills, he shoots too well!" Fuze responded, turning to cast his admonishing gaze at the two sisters in the back seat. _He probably can't tell which one spoke either…_

"Someone is going to get suspicious…" Tachanka, normally a man of few words grumbled from the drivers' seat, his deep voice carrying itself easily through the vehicle.

"Don't worry Glaz, I'll tell the boss it was me!" Fuze said playfully as he jostled him enthusiastically. Tachanka bellowed in laughter from the front seat and even the two polish sisters giggled creepily in unison. He remained silent as the laughter died down as he read through the after-action report and sure enough there were notes in the CTU report about his four kills. The custom rounds from his OTs-03 marksman rifle hadn't been found due to the fact that they were specifically designed to disintegrate shortly after they had pierced their target but his very specific shots had attracted some attention. It wasn't that big of a deal, but it was a problem. He liked being invisible, not included in conversations, left alone… the others would never let him hear the end of this.

"Didn't I tell you? Use bigger rifle next time!" Fuze continued his jests sparking another bout of laughter. His friend, who loved big guns, always picked on him for using such a 'small' weapon but Glaz continued to ignore him and delicately handed the data pad back. He did have a point, of course, if he had used the same type of .50 caliber rifle that the American marines had been using there would have been nothing peculiar about his work. The Americans would have argued relentlessly about who had killed who and tempers would have flared and egos would have clashed. But he didn't like such brute force approaches to solving problems, his work was art, his shots were precise, his movements were quick and delicate. _And besides_ , he told himself as a second small smile crept across his shrewd face, _if I had used a bigger rifle, I would have only had time to make two… maybe three kills… not four._


	4. Chapter 4: Fringe Science

**Chapter 4: Fringe Science**

Max was quickly cleared for air travel and in no time at all Olivia, Max, Chloe, and the three now conscious men were on their way back to Massachusetts. The three men she had instantly recognized as Hans, Gerrard, and Canderous, Kevin's men. The wounded Agent Bauer protested at first but one quick conversation with Broyles over Olivia's phone made him significantly more agreeable. Kevin's men, especially Canderous, seemed quite upset about their capture but their spirits improved as they took in the sight of the fallen Treize Faction operatives.

During the flight Max lapsed in and out of consciousness. Sometimes as she struggled to regain consciousness she would recognize Olivia, sometimes she recognized only Chloe. Once or twice she seemed almost normal again. However, after she had awoken screaming at the top of her lungs Walter, who was constantly requesting updates, decided that it was best to sedate her for the rest of the flight.

"Your initial analysis of Max's condition was quite right Agent Dunham, quite right indeed! Somehow Max's abilities were once again brought to the surface, I imagine by the recent trauma she has gone through, but this time they have been projected inwards. Instead of manipulating the world around her, it is her own mind that is bouncing through time and perhaps multiple realities… we have no way of knowing. Unfortunately, I theorize that this process, as I'm sure you can guess, is causing massive damage inside her conscious, subconscious and physical mind. If we do not repair the damage that was done to her by firmly implanting Max's mind back into our reality she will quite literally drive herself insane, quite possible to death." Walter's words hadn't been very encouraging but as the uncomfortable silence grew Walter added a few uncharacteristically optimistic words. "Don't worry Agent Dunham, we will think of something before you arrive. Peter and I already have a few ideas… don't we Peter?" Peter's grim response, confirmed her suspicions that Walter hadn't a clue what to do at the moment.

Turning towards Chloe, Olivia saw how the young-woman clung to Max's heavily sedated form and recognized the desperate look in her eyes and hoped that Walter would at least have something to offer them when they arrived at his Harvard laboratory.

* * *

"And people said I would never make it to Harvard… well… here I am… assholes." Chloe grumbled as they rushed through the hallways. Hoping that Walter was ready for them Olivia and Chloe burst into Walter's lab and in a rush Gerrard and Hans hurriedly maneuvered Max's gurney inside. Canderous glared menacingly at a few students who had cast confused glances in their direction but soon entered into the lab, casting a scrutinizing gaze at his surroundings. She soon realized that her fears had been unwarranted about Walter's readiness. Walter was in high spirits and Astrid and Kimmy quickly accepted Max's gurney and began to prep her. Peter was busily hooking up equipment, his eyes furrowed in concentration.

"Ah Agent Dunham, Ms. Price!" Walter's gaze fell on the three rough looking men for a moment and not recognizing them dismissed their presence entirely. "What excellent timing, we are ready for you!" He must have something quite extraordinary planned for Max, she hadn't seen him in such a good mood in quite some time.

"So… Walter, what's the plan?"

"Oh, it's quite simple Agent Dunham, first we will load our wonderful Ms. Price up with a variety of drugs-."

"Drugs? What drugs Walter? What will drugging Chloe do to help with Max?" Olivia bombarded him with questions but he casually waved them off as if they had been entirely unnecessary.

"LSD mostly… and I am trying to explain… if you would be so kind and cease interrupting me you would see that your needless questions are as infuriating as they are wasteful!" Walter's excited tone vanished as he tore into her. "Now may I continue uninterrupted?" Olivia, still recovering from his verbal assault simply nodded and his cheerful tone immediately returned. "Now… where was I… oh yes! Once we are done loading Ms. Price full of wonderful elixer we are going to create a link between her brain and Ms. Caulfield's brain with our equipment here. Then, once Ms. Price has disrobed and entered into the deprivation tank Peter and I will bring their brain waves into synch and Ms. Price will enter into Ms. Caulfield's damaged mind, with my help of course, and bring her back to us, simple isn't it?"

"Except for the part where Chloe does all that without the help of Cortexiphan." As far as she understood it, Olivia had only been able to do something similar to what was about to happen because of the Cortexiphan that had been pumped into her blood as a child. Chloe, thankfully, hadn't had the same experience she did growing up so this experiment seemed to be doomed from the start.

"Not at all Agent Dunham, you see that is one of the drugs that I will be giving her." Olivia was shocked at how casually he had said this.

"Walter, you can't do that!"

"Do you want me to save this young woman's life Agent Dunham or do you want to watch her die as her mind slowly but inevitably turns on itself?" Walter's harsh tone was back, he was so vehement that Olivia found herself taking an unconscious step away from him. Realizing what he had just done Walter's face immediately saddened and he apologized. "I'm sorry Agent Dunham, but this is the only way, there simply is no alternative…" Turning to Chloe Olivia fixed her gaze on her and made sure that the woman knew what she was doing.

"This is going to be really dangerous. There is a lot at stake here… are you sure that you want to go through with this?"

"I don't care how dangerous this is, if there's a chance to save Max then I'm doing it!" Chloe seemed almost belligerent with her response but Olivia persisted regardless.

"There is a chance but it's probably not as high as-." Chloe cut her off before she could finish her sentence, she was having none of it.

"Look lady if there's even a one percent chance that this will work, I'm doing it." Chloe cast a questioning gaze at Walter who quickly nodded.

"Definitely higher than one percent, most certainly!" _Yeah but how much higher Walter?_ Olivia sighed heavily and Chloe could tell that she still wasn't about to give in so she tried a different approach.

"Look, you seem nice and all but clearly you don't understand what love is. That woman over there, that woman who is dying right now, I love her. That means I'm willing to do anything, no matter how risky or insane or dangerous it is to save her."

"Fine, but before you do this there are a few things that you should know…" Olivia paused and turned to Walter who nodded slightly, acknowledging the necessity of informing Chloe the truth about her friend. "Chloe, this is going to sound insane but five years ago Max was able to control time." Olivia let her words sink in and she saw how Chloe's face changed and the young woman hurriedly looked at her friend.

"What… what are you talking about?"

"It all started when, and this is going to sound really strange, when Nathan Prescott shot you in the girl's bathroom back at Blackwell Academy. Somehow, we still don't really understand, she was able to manipulate time and save you and to make an incredibly long story short… her powers caused some terrible things to happen." Chloe stared back at her in total disbelief but when she cast her worried gaze back to her partner she seemed to start to process some of the information that Olivia had thrown at her.

"So… why don't I remember anything about this… and how do you? What about you three… do you guys have any idea what she is talking about?" _This is going to get really interesting really fast._

Kevin's men exchanged veiled glances at one another. Hans adjusted his sunglasses while Gerrard shrugged and scratched his beard. Canderous stretched and crossed his massive arms across his equally massive chest and grumbled.

"Man… the boss ain't paying us enough for this mess." When it became clear that the three men would be offering nothing substantial to the conversation Olivia and Chloe turned away from them.

"Let's just say that I am unique, I was able to retain my memories of everything that happened just as Max was able to… Kevin as well… I take it that they never mentioned any of this to you?"

"No… not a word… this all sounds hella' insane… I probably wouldn't have believed her anyway… I'm not even sure that I believe you but she did recognize those guys that tried to rescue us and I certainly have never seen them before so I guess that makes sense… and she seemed to recognize you once or twice… did she lose her powers or something?"

"We believe so… but our theory is that during this recent series of traumatic events something may have triggered her powers again… but for some reason instead of projecting them on the world she internalized them…"

"So… she's like what… jumping through her memories or something?" Olivia nodded, she wondered how much more she should tell Chloe but there was no telling what she may face inside Max's fractured mind so it might help her to know more.

"She may even be jumping through different versions of herself, from alternate realities, if that makes any sense. When you go inside Max's mind you may run into a number of versions of herself, some may know you, some may not… they may react positively or negatively to you, there is no telling what you might encounter in there but you have to do your best to remain calm…"

"You already lectured me about how dangerous this is, we don't need to go through that again… let's just do this thing and save Max."

And that seemed to settled it she turned to Walter and began to strip off her clothes. "Juice me up, Doctor Frankenstein." Walter, excited once more, hurried around as Chloe tore off most of her clothing and only stopped at her underwear when Peter hastily motioned that she had done enough. Canderous, clearly dismayed that Peter had intervened grumbled some more but his devouring gaze seemingly had no effect on Chloe.

Gerrard, on the other hand, had become extremely interested in something behind him all of the sudden while it was impossible to tell exactly what Hans was looking at thanks to his sunglasses. Whether or not he was interested in the events unfolding before him, he gave no indication either way. Chloe stood impatiently in front of the sensory deprivation chamber as an IV and several leads and monitoring devices were hooked up to her. Once everything had been prepared she fearlessly plunged into the massive chamber. As Olivia watched it slam shut behind her she thought back to her own experiences inside and wished that she had been half as brave as Chloe.

As Chloe floated inside the pitch-black chamber her thoughts swam around inside of her as she became increasingly aware that she was alone. _This is a piece of cake I've been on my own before… so what if it's hella' dark in here… I lived in the dark for months… it was just me and my shitty thoughts all to ourselves, I don't see what the big deal is._ Immediately after she processed that thought the drugs kicked in, hard, and everything changed. All at once everything became nothing and nothing became everything. She felt herself gasping in pleasure and moaning in distress all at once as she was consumed by the intensity of the moment.

Walter's tranquil voice spoke to her, guided her, calmed her. Chloe felt more than heard Walter's distinct and steady voice fade away into the back of her mind. Slowly it became a forgotten whisper as if carried off by a drifting wind, _open your eyes._ She obeyed and immediately recognized her surroundings.

She found herself in Max's room in Detroit, well her old room at any rate. She recognized it from the many trips that they had taken to Max's parents' house, it was oddly furnished though, as if for a young girl. It struck her then, _this is Max's room when she was just a kid… this is her room after she left me…_

Soft muffled crying suddenly sounded from behind her and she spun around and nearly tripped over a very young-looking Max who was sitting on the floor tightly hugging a teddy bear. All around her were strewn photographs and drawings and upon closer inspection she immediately recognized them. The photographs were pictures of them when they were kids and the drawings were the 'artwork' that they had created together. As if noticing Chloe for the first time the young Max looked up at her and chocked back her tears.

"I'm sorry Chloe… I'm sorry…" Her voice cracked and broke as she fought back her sadness and Chloe found herself crouching down and cradling the distressed youth.

"Hey it's okay Max… don't worry, what are you sorry about?" The young Max clung to her but she cried harder, somehow managing to form words between her sobbing.

"I left you all alone… I didn't mean it… I wanted to talk… I missed you… I'm sorry Chloe… I'm so sorry… You probably hated me… you probably hate me… don't be mad Chloe… I tried… I really did try…" Max went on like this for some time until her words were drowned out by more cries and even though Chloe had indeed been mad at her for abandoning her when she had needed her most she couldn't help but feel bad for the scared little girl.

"It's okay Max, I'm not mad… I don't hate you…I… I missed you too…" Chloe's words stuck in her throat as she became overwhelmed with conflicting emotions. On one hand she wanted to tell this little Max exactly how she had felt as a child. Her father had died and then her best friend had simply vanished and seemingly stopped caring about her. She had been left all alone wondering what she had done to scare away her best friend.

She had blamed herself at first, but eventually her anger found new targets. Max, David, her mother, and eventually the rest of the shitty world. But on the other hand, she knew Max, she knew that she had tried and done her best and that her past insecurities had prevented her from reaching out to her. She knew that Max had wanted nothing more than to be with her once again, she knew this.

"You promise?" The little Max had stopped crying and was looking up at Chloe hopefully.

"I promise, you little goofball." Little Max smiled and began to wipe away her tears and Chloe's heart warmed as she smiled back. Suddenly the door to Max's room flung open and Max's mom stormed in, consumed with rage.

"Get away from her!" Just as suddenly, Chloe realized that little Max had disappeared so she sprung to her feet to deal with Max's infuriated mom but as she turned to face the woman she realized that she wasn't looking at Max's mom, she was looking at a much older Max.

"Max?" She asked in confusion and the woman's rage subsided, but only for a moment.

"Chloe Price, I'm honestly surprised that you managed to recognize someone else other than yourself for once in your life!" The harsh words stung Chloe but she repeated to herself over and over again in her head, _this isn't your Max…_

"Chill dude… relax… I'm just looking for my Max..."

"Your Max? You're so selfish! Can't you think about anyone but yourself? Everything is always about you! Max doesn't need you! Go back to wherever you came from and leave her alone!"

"I'm not leaving here without her!" Chloe yelled back, taking a step towards the furious woman. "You hear me Max? I'm not leaving here without you!" Just as suddenly as the woman had appeared she vanished, as did her surroundings.

Annoyingly, Chloe found herself in one of Blackwell's many classrooms, but it was empty. She took a moment to calm herself and steady her shaking hands. Reminding herself again that that woman hadn't been her Max, never would be, ever. Exiting the classroom, she found herself in the empty halls of Blackwell, wondering in despair which direction she should head. A loud crack echoed through the halls and she heard Max call out in despair.

Almost certain that the commotion had come from down the hall to her right she took off. However, she stopped abruptly when she realized where she was headed as she rounded a corner. Just in front of her was the door to the girls' bathroom where Nathan had almost shot her and nearly killed Kevin and Max. The door was ajar and even though her mind reeled at the prospect of continuing any further she pushed herself onwards. Willing her trembling hands to be steady she slowly pulled the door open.

"No! Chloe! Please!" Max's cries went unanswered as she knelt over an eerily familiar corpse. A slowly expanding pool of blood surrounded the pair as Max desperately tried to wake her friend. Chloe gasped as she looked down upon her own still form, a bloody wound in her chest. Max, startled by the noise looked up at her in shock and for several moments the two stared at one another. This Max looked just as her own Max had the day that she had walked back into her life, except that she was covered in blood, her blood.

"Max?" Her voice trembled as she took a step towards the grizzly scene. She wanted to comfort Max, to say something but her words stuck uselessly in her throat. Unable to tear her gaze away from the lifeless corpse she found herself being drawn towards the grizzly scene. Nathan hadn't killed her that day, but he could have. The harrowing experience came back to her in a flash, her ears rang from the percussion of the gunshot while the taste of gunpowder dried her throat, choking her. Shaking her head, she thrust the memory away, but the horror of the event lingered deep within her heart.

"Chloe! I… I… I was scared… I didn't know what to do… I would have done something… I really would have… I didn't mean to let you die…" Max was becoming hysterical as she slowly began to realize just how much blood had soaked into her clothes. _This was how it was supposed to have happened… If things hadn't been different… Max would have walked back into my life… but before I would have gotten a chance to even speak to her… I would have died…_ Chloe's thoughts gripped her heart with an overwhelming sense of futility and sadness. She looked on as Max began to frantically wipe her bloodied hands on her blood-soaked jeans, her face white with panic. _Fuck this! This didn't happen! Kevin came bursting in and saved us! We're together now, this wasn't the end of our story!_ _This is all bullshit!_

Instilled by her newfound confidence she forced herself out of her dazed stupor and rushed over to where Max had backed herself against the bathroom wall, as far away from the corpse as she could. Chloe took Max in her arms and held her tightly against her chest even though the terrified girl struggled against her embrace.

"No! You're dead! Let me go!" But she refused to let go. She held onto Max tightly, speaking softly to her as the frightened girl tried to wriggle free.

"Max… it's okay. I know that you did everything that you could. I know that you were scared, I was scared too… I know that… had things been different… you would have done everything that you could to save me… even… even the impossible." Suddenly Max stopped struggling against her grasp and her struggles gave way to tears. They sat there, on the cold hard floor next to Chloe's unmoving corpse holding each other as Max cried fitfully into her shoulder. Chloe didn't know how long that painful moment lasted but when she opened her eyes she found herself somewhere else that she recognized.

"My home away from hell…" She whispered as she slowly stood, extremely glad that she didn't have to look upon her own bloodied corpse anymore. She tentatively made her way through the junkyard of Arcadia Bay, terrified at what she would encounter next. Once upon a time she had found comfort here, but that had all changed. Rachel's body had been found in a shallow grave here, the ground was now hallowed, poisoned.

There was no going back to that place. Rachel had been taken from her, murdered, her life cruelly extinguished. Rachel had been her star, her light in the darkness, but the darkness had swallowed her. Chloe had always wondered why it had always seemed as if Rachel had been close by ever since her disappearance, as if she had been just around every corner. She had spent many months clinging to the desperate hope that Rachel had made a better life for herself somewhere, even if it meant that this better life didn't involve her.

It had been easier than believing her dead. But the world was a cruel and unforgiving place. It had taken the greatest man she had ever known from her without warning, her father. That hadn't been enough though, it took Rachel just as suddenly. Struggling to keep her flimsy hopes alive she had no idea that Rachel had been so close by, her once angelic figure rotting beneath the soil. Steeling herself she did her best to prepare herself for the horrors that lay ahead, nothing good would be found in this cursed graveyard of humanity.

She discovered a very similar scene to the one that she had just left. She found Max leaning over another bloodied Chloe, this one still alive if just barely. Max had her hands pressed firmly against another ghastly bullet wound and as she watched herself take a few desperate gasps for air she found herself unable to look away as she watched herself die. Chloe had thought a lot about her death when she was younger, back then she had figured that she was doomed to die alone so why bother delaying it? But nothing could have prepared her for this. Seeing your own body surrounded by a pool of blood was one thing, watching the life disappear from your own eyes and your body go still was something different entirely.

The scene was almost poetic. Every part of her life ended here. It was here she had found her father's ruined car, it was here that Rachel's body had been found. Now, it seemed, it would be here that her last ragged breath would pass through her lips. It would be here, that the love of her life would watch her die. _No, this isn't real, that's not me! That's not my Max!_

Max slowly turned around and seemingly looked right through her, as if she was indeed already dead. The lost and hopeless expression on her face was more than she could take. Tears poured down her face and she shamefully choked back a desperate sob. Max needed her right now but she found herself unable to move, helpless against the weight of her own mortality.

Seemingly noticing her uselessness Max slowly turned away and Chloe followed her gaze until she caught sight of herself once again. _Oh shit… holy shit I'm actually alive this time…_ This version of herself was alive and well but Chloe soon realized that she was seemingly terrified and had somehow gotten herself stuck on the train tracks. _Wow… really? Stuck on the train tracks like some cartoon damsel, where's Snidely Whiplash and that damned dog of his, this must be their doing…_

"Chloe!" Max called out and ran to help her friend, seemingly unaware that she left behind the lifeless corpse that had also once been her friend. Feeling somewhat revitalized from her earlier state, Chloe managed to cheer herself with her thoughts as she slowly followed Max. She watched as Max tried with increasing desperation to free her friend. Max and this other Chloe soon began to panic as a train could be heard off in the distance. Chloe begged Max to free her, her shrill voice close to panic as Max tore off in search of something that could aid her.

She watched aS Max trIED everything she could and exhausted option after option but soon her time ran out and she closed her eyes and looked away just before the train reached the struggling and terrified girl on the tracks. She had seen herself die enough times today, there was no reason to watch it happen again if she didn't have to. The sound of the passing train and Max's wails had died away but she adamantly refused to open her eyes. Her entire body had gone numb, _how many more times do I have to watch myself die? How many times did Max…_

"Chloe…" Max's sudden soft, slightly anxious voice made eyes snap open. All around her was blackness but despite the lack of light Max was easily visible as she slowly and nervously made her way towards her.

"Max is that you?" But it wasn't, as the girl drew closer she quickly realized that this Max was just another copy of the teenage Max, the one that kept watching her die. Feeling a sense of dread creep into her she did her best to brace herself for the worst once again. However, mercifully, nothing happened. The pair just stood there looking uncertainly at each other for several long moments. _She was such a shy little dork… but she was my shy little dork, just look at her. Five years ago, that was my Max Caulfield!_ Chloe found herself smiling despite everything that she had just experienced and Max slowly flashed a nervous smile of her own. Tendrils of warmth crept into her chest, she felt her heart flutter momentarily as the young girl meekly approached.

"Chloe… I want to show you something." With agonizing slowness Max reached out to her and Chloe gradually took her hand and allowed herself to be led into the blackness. She had been about to ask where they were going when without warning a series of moments, frozen in time, appeared in front of them. Max slowly led her through this maze of images and Chloe felt her heart burst with emotion as they walked by each different moment. At first, she became confused, the first moment that they walked by was of the pair riding in her old truck, it could have been anything. But as they walked past Max broke the silence.

"This was when you first welcomed me back to Arcadia Bay… it was super awkward at first but it was still good seeing you again." As they slowly walked on Max continued to narrate the frozen moments as they appeared and disappeared. They passed by an image, that as Max explained, was when Chloe had given Max her father's old camera. Chloe remembered giving her father's camera to Max, but it hadn't been like that. She had brought it to Max while she was still recovering in the hospital. She kept her mouth shut though and allowed herself to be led along the path of memories.

The next memory was of Chloe smoking a cigarette as she danced on her bed while Max prepared to take her picture. Smiling to herself Chloe resisted the urge to ruffle this Max's hair as they walked on past. _Of course, that's important to you… you're doing what you love most… with me…_ Chloe's thoughts trailed off as they approached the next memory of the two of them sitting on a bench that she recognized, they were at the lighthouse. As it was explained to her this was when Max had told Chloe about her powers and after only a small amount of convincing Chloe had believed her, it meant the world to her. _Holy shit… that FBI lady… Olivia or whatever… she wasn't kidding… Max… my Max once had the ability to control time! Amazeballs!_

They passed by several more memories that held significance to Max. One where they were seated together at her mom's diner, one where Max lay exhausted as she recovered from using her powers too much on Chloe's lap on the hood of a rusted-out car, and another where they walked hand in hand along the railroad tracks.

"I told you that my powers might not last at that moment… do you know what you said to me?" Max suddenly asked as they walked on by. A number of things popped into her head at that moment but she simply couldn't find her voice so she shook her head. "You told me… you told me that 'we would last… forever.'" _Shit that does sound like me…_

"I am totally the smoothest… also really, really cheesy…" She found herself relaxing as they strolled through memory lane, even though these were memories that she had never been a part of. Max smiled at her and squeezed her hand as they continued on. They passed a moment where the pair had been breaking into what looked like Principle Wells' office at Blackwell.

"Damn, that looks like fun!" She cried out as they passed and nudged Max playfully, "Let's do it again?" Max smiled and nudged her back but they continued on, leaving the memory behind like all the rest.

"This is where I told you that you couldn't take Wells' cozy chair…" Max said wistfully, smiling as if recalling the memory. The pair had obviously succeeded in their dastardly plan to infiltrate the principal's office and Chloe could certainly see why she wanted to take the tacky but definitely cozy looking chair.

"I totally took it anyway right?" She asked but received no answer in return. _I guess that will just remain a mystery… or she convinced me not to and doesn't want to spoil my fun, that sounds like her._ The next series of images brought an even wider smile to Chloe's face. The pair apparently had not been happy with simply breaking into the principal's office that night, they had broken into Blackwell's pool building and gone for a midnight swim. Max was smiling too as she basked in the memories as they silently passed them by. Chloe couldn't help but break the silence, as her mood improved she found herself talking more and more.

"Your hair looks cute soaked in chemicals." Her hand was given a tight squeeze after she had said this and Max leaned towards her and rested her head on her shoulder.

"That's exactly what you said that night Chloe… those exact words." Distressed at how her friend's voice had cracked while she spoke she did her best to play it off.

"Well duh, that's because it's totally obvious!" Continuing on through the memories they came to an image of the pair in bed together, obviously just waking up after their night of fun. Their hair was messy and probably reeked of chlorine and they had both striped down to their tiny t-shirts and even tinier shorts. _How the hell was I not all over her that night… unless I was… no if I was we totally wouldn't be wearing that much clothing… I probably chickened out of it…_ Max was in the middle of snapping one of her morning selfies and Chloe, naturally, was photobombing her. _Can't have a Priceless picture now can we… wow I can't believe I just thought that… super glad I kept that one to myself. Can I get any lamer?_

The next image made Chloe stop in her tracks and Max, stopped beside clearly not minding the delay. A very nervous Max was laying the tiniest of kisses on a very surprised looking Chloe. _Apparently, I can, I am barely even kissing her back!_

"Damn girl, look at you go! You totally caught me off-guard with that one, well done sistah." Blushing next to her Max shyly hid her face as she explained what had happened.

"You… you dared me to kiss you, so I did… I didn't think you thought I would do it… I mean obviously you didn't…" Her voice trailed off as her shyness overtook her once more but Chloe had just the thing to bring her out of it. Without so much as second of warning she took Max in her arms and kissed her firmly on the lips. She poured every ounce of passion that she could muster in the kiss and at first, she realized that she had gone too far.

Poor Max was immediately overwhelmed and she struggled as if she didn't know what to do. But this only lasted for a few short seconds and soon Max was swept up in the moment and kissed her back just as fiercely. Chloe found herself lost in the moment as well and kissed Max again and again until Max broke away gasping for air. They remained like that, breathing heavily, noses almost touching for several moments as they gazed into each other's eyes.

Chloe could have remained lost in that moment forever but as she stared into Max's eyes she had to tell herself once more, _this isn't my Max… and… I'm not her Chloe._ The girl that stood before her must have realized this as well because she moved in and placed the sweetest, softest kiss on Chloe's cheek before breaking away. Taking her hand once more, she led on towards more memories.

Max almost dragged her past a few memories that Chloe wasn't able to understand but soon she forced Max to stop when a memory appeared before them that completely caught her off guard. So far, the memories had played out in a linear fashion, but before her stood the pair when they had been just kids. They proceeded on in silence as they moved past but once again she forced them to stop when the next memory appeared. They were walking along the beach it seemed, or at least Max was walking… Chloe was in a really decked out wheelchair complete with an oxygen tank, straps, and a mechanism that kept her sitting up straight. But the most peculiar thing that stood out to her was that not only was Max dressed like a totally different person, a very preppy person, but her own hair was its natural color. Clearly seeing that there was no pushing past these memories without an explanation Max slowly enlightened her.

"This is when I discovered that I could go back in time, no matter when, so long as I had a picture of me… that moment back there that I rushed past… it was really hard for you and it made us fight and I hated that… so when I got back to my dorm I went back to when your dad was killed… and… and I stopped it…"

"Wait… you stopped my dad from getting killed… you little… but how?" Chloe was completely floored, Max had gone back in time just for her and brought back her dad, her real dad. She tried to imagine what her life might have been like if he hadn't of been killed so many years ago but it made her head spin. Max, however, refused to answer her question and continued to explain.

"But when I came back to the present everything had changed! I had changed and you… you were paralyzed… instead of your dad being killed in a car accident… you ended up in one and you were paralyzed Chloe… and… it got worse…" With these words out of her mouth, and obviously with a heavy heart Max led her to the next memory.

She was in a super crazy hospital bed now and it looked like she and Max were also taking a trip down memory lane as they flipped through a photo album. The Max standing next to her was obviously struggling to speak so she did what she could to comfort her and eventually the girl found her voice. Her words were uneven and soft, almost inaudible.

"You weren't just paralyzed Chloe… your respiratory system was failing and you… you asked me to help you die… you asked me to crank up your morphine since you were slowly dying anyway… you wanted to die on your terms, you wanted to drift away with the memories of that day that we had spent together… and I did… I did what you asked…" Her words broke off and Chloe found herself bringing Max towards her as the young girl cried. She held Max close to her and wrapped her arms protectively around her and let the girl cry, she needed it.

Chloe found herself speechless, the experience must have been so heart wrenching… _did my Max go through this too? Did she… is this her from another time or was this actually her? Has she been carrying around all of these memories of us all these years… is this really my Maxine Caulfield? Or do I just want her to be?_ Max had only mostly recovered but she nonetheless somberly led them away from the memory, once again refusing to look back.

"I went back again… and I let your dad die… I needed to have you back… I'm sorry… I hope you can forgive me." Chloe had no idea what to say as they passed by a few more memories that showed them back to their normal selves. _My dad was already dead Max… you don't have to be sorry…_ Once again, her thoughts trailed off as Max led her towards another memory. She found herself sitting on the ground, her head between her knees, clearly upset while Max was wrapping her arms around her from behind as if desperately trying to comfort her. Wondering what could have possibly upset her so much she analyzed the scene and she noticed that a small and shallow hole had been dug into the earth nearby where the pair sat. Slowly peering into the hole, she immediately wished that she hadn't as memories flooded back to her.

Not long after Max's and Kevin's hospitalization and during their recovery Nathan Prescott and Mark Jefferson were arrested. Mark Jefferson, with Nathan as his twisted protégé, had used his position and Nathan's drugs to lure and abduct young girls for his perverse photographs. Girls like Kate… girls like Rachel… her Rachel. This must have been the spot where Rachel's body had been found. But in this timeline… she and Max had discovered Rachel on their own.

"I'm sorry Chloe… I'm so sorry…" Max began but Chloe shrugged her off.

"Why are you showing me this… why would you make me relive something like… like this! If you are Max Caulfield then you know how much Rachel meant to me! Why would you make me relive this moment, why would you do that to me… what's the point of all this?" And suddenly Max and all of her memories were gone and Chloe was left wishing that she hadn't said a word.

She found herself in a cemetery. The sky was overcast and it looked as if it would rain at any second. Ahead of her she found another Max, or possibly the same one, looming over a gravestone. She was dressed in an almost cute black dress but Chloe immediately recognized it as funeral attire and approached the girl with a heavy heart. Without turning around Max began to speak.

"This is your grave Chloe." Her words were heavy and foreboding, she wasn't speaking like any Max that she knew. She was about to open her mouth and unleash her frustration upon her too but then the name on the gravestone caught her eye, it was indeed her grave.

"What happened to me this time?" She asked, almost casually. _This Chloe dying trick is getting old real fast Max…_

"Nathan shot you in the bathroom… and as you died I sat in the corner and did nothing." Her voice was flat, almost completely devoid of emotion, almost. There was a hint of sadness in her words that Chloe managed to detect and latch onto. Despite this she responded with as much snark and sarcasm as she could muster.

"Gee, thanks."

"You don't get it-." Max began but Chloe quickly cut her off.

"No, I do get it… if Kevin hadn't swept in and saved us I would have died, maybe even you too. I've thanked him like a million times already, big deal."

"That's not what happened here Chloe… I let you die…" Her words hung in the air like a slap in the face. She didn't say this as if she were begging for forgiveness, she had said this with a hint of pride.

"Oh yeah? Why the hell did you go and do that, finally get tired of saving my ass?" Max's blank expression finally broke and again her words were plagued by sadness.

"I let you die… because you asked me to." Chloe froze, seeing that she now had her full attention Max's expression softened some more and she smiled sadly before continuing. "It was the only way to save Arcadia Bay… you asked me… you begged me … to let Nathan kill you so that the storm wouldn't happen, so that the town wouldn't be destroyed, so that everyone wouldn't die. I showed you all of those things so that you would believe me when I told you this. I shared with you all of my memories so you would know that it was the hardest decision of my life."

"You don't seem too choked up about it." Chloe challenged even though she could tell exactly how much this decision weighed on Max.

"Chloe… I suffered… I hid in the corner of the bathroom and cried as I listened to Nathan gun you down. I cried in my dorm as I went through all of our memories together, I cried with your mom when she gave me some things that she knew that you would have wanted me to have, I cried because all of the magical moments that we shared together you never got to experience… our adventures, our triumphs, our first kiss… you never even got to know how sorry I was for leaving you all alone when you needed me most…"

"That's sweet and all… but my Max would never have allowed that to happen… my Max would have found another way, she wouldn't have just given up because I asked her to." Max smiled sadly once again and her gaze bore into her as she spoke her next words.

"She would have and she tried to do just that… as you know Kevin saved the day. But Chloe… Max tried to kill you." Chloe had had enough, _whoever this bitch is she isn't Max, not my Max._

"I see what you're doing! You're trying to tear us apart! Just because you killed your Chloe doesn't mean that my Max would do the same, you're wrong! She would never do that! Get out of here before you really piss me off!" Chloe in a fury turned around and shouted into the distance as hard as she could. "Max! Where are you! Max!"

Suddenly she found herself in a forest and not too far away from her she saw a black sedan and all around it armored men with guns were frozen in place. Max sat in the back seat of the car, her face buried into the lifeless form of another Chloe. But this Chloe was her, and this Max was hers. Chloe ran towards the vehicle and as she began to charge past one of the soldiers he sprung to life and made a move as if to grab her. He was too slow though, in an instant she had wrenched the man's weapon away from him and she shot him point blank in the chest. Not waiting to watch the man fall lifelessly to the earth she turned her weapon on the next man and the next and she continued firing until all of the men that were about to harm her Max had fallen and the weapon's magazine had run dry. Tossing aside the empty weapon she dashed towards Max and as she hastily approached Max looked up and her sad, morbid, hopeless expression stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Chloe… I lost you again… I can't fix it this time!" Max wailed and buried her face into the lifeless Chloe's chest once more.

"No Max… I'm right here, I'm fine… you didn't lose me! You have to come with me, you have to come back to me!" Max looked up at her once more and seemed confused for a moment but she gestured in frustration at the body that she held in her arms.

"Chloe… you're dead. They killed you! I watched you die, again… and I couldn't stop it… I tried… I think… but it didn't work… look!" Max gestured meaningfully at the body of her friend that she clutched to desperately.

"No Max… they hit me with some kind of crazy stun thingy or some shit… I didn't die. But you are dying! You have to come back with me! You can't stay here, please Max, please just come with me…" Suddenly the corpse that Max held tightly in her arms slowly opened its eyes and Max gasped in surprise. In a flash Chloe was no longer standing outside of the vehicle but had taken the place of the now stirring Chloe inside the vehicle.

"Chloe! Oh my lord… you're alive!" Max's voice came from far away however, as if the girl that was smiling down at her through a tear covered face hadn't spoken a word. Slowly, feelings of weightlessness returned to her body and she felt herself floating away as Walter's voice guided her back towards the sensory deprivation chamber that she had left so many lifetimes ago.

All of the sudden there was a flash of light and the world returned to her in an agonizing burst of sensation and she cried out in shock. Struggling to focus on something, anything, her eyes fought against the light as they slowly adjusted to the flood of stimuli. She immediately became overwhelmed as her senses were overloaded and she felt herself retching as she was dragged out of the water. Grasping numbly at her surroundings she felt herself collapsing on something cold and solid.

Incomprehensible voices assaulted her ears as something… soft… and dry… was cast upon her and she welcomed it as the dizziness and nausea slowly began to fade. The voices gradually began to form words that she could understand and the shapes of the world finally took form into images that she recognized. Walter was there with Peter… Olivia and Astrid… or was it Astrix… she saw Kimmy and she heard… she heard a cow.

"Was… was that a cow?" Chloe asked, stumbling clumsily through her words. Everyone around her laughed and the atmosphere turned jovial and for a moment Chloe struggled to remember what had happened to her. But then the laughter suddenly died down and a familiar voice reached her ears.

"Chloe!" _Max! Max is awake!_

"Max!" She tried to stand but her legs failed her and she would have collapsed if a number of arms hadn't caught her and slowly helped her up. Suddenly she was being carried through the air and after several moments of confusion she was laid down on something soft and warm. Several more soft, warm things were piled onto her and as her brain struggled and grasped for meaning she felt someone beside her as they desperately snuggled up beside her. _Max! I did it, I brought Max back!_

Chloe, with an amazing amount of effort managed to roll herself over so that she could look into the fuzzy blur that she knew was Max. She was awake, she was smiling, and even though she could barely see her, she knew that this was her Max.


	5. Chapter 5: Contact

**Chapter 5: Contact**

Walter was beaming with pride, he had done it. His smile grew even brighter when Peter walked over and congratulated him. Chloe was reeling from her experience but she and Max were together again and seemed to be recovering. Both Kimmy and Astrid were smiling and Kevin's three men even seemed to be at least somewhat jovial about the success of the experiment. Hans's face even flashed a brief smile for the slightest of moments. His face turned deadly serious, however, when all at once every window to Walter's lab was suddenly smashed open.

Olivia wrenched out her sidearm as several cylindrical objects were hurled into the room through the broken windows. As the grenades bounced around the room Gerrard called out a warning as the door was thrust open and two more grenades were tossed inside by masked men. Reacting instantly Hans was able to drag one of the men inside and quickly dispatched him with a swift and deadly thrust to his throat. Wasting no time Canderous quickly scooped up both grenades and dove out of the room with a defiant roar.

"Walter get down!" Peter called out just before the room exploded in dazzling light and deafening noise. She had been on the opposite side of the lab from the explosions but as she came to her senses she found herself on the floor all the same. _Flashbangs…_ the word hung in her mind as she struggled to pick herself off of the floor. Slowly, the room began to focus in front of her but the images refused to focus or take concrete shapes. The intense ringing in her ears caused an overwhelming pain to drive itself deep into her head. Olivia struggled against the dizziness and nausea and forced herself up, realizing for the first time that she still held her weapon. Aiming it towards the open door she fought to keep her aim steady but it was impossible. Two of everything in the room jumped around and danced in front of her and despite her grim determination she found herself on the floor once again.

She watched in slow motion as two masked men, dressed in black, came stumbling into the room. Olivia watched with increasing desperation as it became apparent that they were recovering much faster than she was. Her fears were alleviated when Gerrard came into view and tackled one of the men, seemingly in slow motion. The second man lurched backwards, grabbing at his neck as he collapsed to the ground. Hans was upon the falling man immediately, moving so fast his movements caused Olivia to struggle once more against feelings of nausea. Quickly finishing off the struggling man he wrenched his knife free. A shower of blood shot forth from the man's neck as Hans violently retrieved his weapon and as the man went still both Hans and Gerrard rushed out the door, presumably to deal with more threats.

By the time that Olivia had finally managed to make it to her feet she noticed that she was the exception in the room. The others were all still on the floor in varying stages of suffering. Both Astrid and Kimmy had managed to draw their weapons but neither was in any state to make us of them. Peter was desperately trying to right himself and his face was stained red with blood from his ears and nose. Walter was on the floor as well, leaning against a wall, a bemused and almost cheerful expression on his face as he blinked and moved his mouth in an odd manner. Both Chloe and Max were still safely in bed but were obviously suffering from the experience, _as if they both hadn't suffered enough today…_

Slowly and with a huge amount of effort Olivia managed to make her way to the door of the lab, her weapon held shakily in front of her, but ready nonetheless. As she rounded the corner to clear the hallway a woman that she didn't recognize entered the room and in a dizzying flash of movement quickly, but gently disarmed her. Blinking as she swayed unsteadily on her feet Olivia reached out to resist but the woman avoided her grasp and was soon helping Olivia into a nearby chair. Ears still ringing intensely, Olivia didn't bother speaking to the woman who patted her on the shoulder and, rifle in hand quickly cleared the rest of the room.

She was dressed in all black and wore a black baseball cap, her eyes hidden behind a pair of black sunglasses. A long, thin auburn braided pony tail cascaded down her back, taking the edge off of her menacing appearance, but only slightly. The woman gave a thumbs-up to someone outside and several more armed men and women entered the room, two of them struggling as they dragged in Canderous's massive hulking and clearly unconscious form. One of the men, clearly a medic of some kind, began to approach her but she waved him away, pointing instead to her friends that were worse off than she was. The man nodded and patted her on the shoulder and she watched as he noiselessly moved over to inspect Kimmy who was trying desperately to struggle to her feet.

Hans and Gerrard returned and seemed to be trading gestures with the new arrivals and were probably just as deaf as she was since neither seemed to be making any attempt to speak. Hans motioned towards Olivia and one of the men that she recognized made his way towards her, smiling pleasantly. Lee Martin, one of Kevin's men who had helped rescue Max five years ago approached her and handed her a piece of paper that had hastily scribbled writing on it. It took her some time to focus on the words that kept splitting and doubling before her but eventually she was able to make sense of them. _Hostiles neutralized… we're here to help…_

* * *

The fleet tore out of hyperspace and as the ships transitioned back to 'real' space Kevin watched as his tactical map updated, nothing had changed. Their target, Earth, appeared before them, large enough to dominate the bridge's exterior view-ports. It was easy to forget the chaos that was currently unraveling on the surface of the planet when you looked at it from above. Kevin had seen hundreds of planets but none of them rivaled Earth's beauty.

He was about to climb out of his crew-pit but a sudden alert made him pause, one of the scout craft had returned, only one. The pilot immediately transmitted a massive package of information and reported that his partner had remained behind to continuously monitor the situation. Kevin's mouth went dry as he sifted through the data and an unusual sensation gripped his heart as he scanned through image after image, fear.

A fleet was indeed trying to maneuver through his territory undetected, ships that matched no known profiles, hundreds of them. He felt the atmosphere on the bridge slowly change as the news spread from station to station. Forcing himself to focus he cast away his fears and mastered his emotions. Once his feelings had been brought into line he tore through the information with renewed vigor, his mind's focus sharpening and expanding.

The fleet consisted of just upwards of four-hundred ships… _four hundred…_ the number hung in his mind and taunted him. Refusing to be distracted he increased his focus and pushed away the unnecessary emotional reaction and split the massive fleet into more manageable numbers. The largest ship, a massive warship roughly half the size of the _Night Hammer_ , dwarfed the rest of the fleet, _one command and control ship._ It boasted an impressive array of a multitude of weapons, there was hardly a section of the hull that wasn't bristling with firepower. _Weak outer armor… interesting…_ _no shield generators either… very interesting…_

Wondering if this trend continued he inspected the next largest ship and discovered that there were eleven other seemingly identical copies of this warship. Somewhat smaller than his Star Destroyers, these blocky ships were armed to the teeth as well but seemed to have superior armor than the larger ship. Clearly designed to give as much damage as they received he quickly classified these ships as battleships and moved onto the next class of ship. He hesitated however when he picked up on something unexpected.

The twelve battleships were all unique, each one seemed to have common traits in design but during their lifetimes the ships had all been heavily modified in subtly different ways, _interesting…_ Moving on he found the bread and butter of the unknown fleet, ships he classified as battlecruisers. Smaller than the battleships, although not by much, their propulsion systems were massive and their weaponry was imposing but their armor was almost nonexistent compared to the other ships he had inspected. More than one-hundred of these ships were scattered in groups throughout the fleet, this was their main fighting force. The rest of the fleet was comprised of much smaller ships that he designated as cruisers, frigates and destroyers, these smaller ships were obviously picket ships that were meant to screen the larger ships and protect them of threats while they closed the distance with their enemies.

The enemy fleet had vast numbers, numbers that made his stomach churn with fear but the ships that made up this fleet were far inferior to his own. The simple fact that they were lacking shields raised his spirits considerably and their weaponry seemed to be almost entirely projectile based. The enemy armaments consisted of missiles and 'slug' throwing weapons that his ships' shields would have no problem resisting… for a while at any rate. Even more encouraging, it seemed that this fleet was seriously lacking in fighter support, which he had countless of. His ships might be falling apart, be desperately short on crew, and be few in number compared to this massive threat, but he had hundreds of strike craft.

Tie-Fighters, Tie-Interceptors, Tie-Bombers, and Lambda-Class Assault Shuttles made up the majority of his strike craft but he also had hordes of craft that would have embarrassed any respectable Imperial officer. Not able to be choosey with the ships that he had acquired or captured he had never turned anything down. Because of this he had an embarrassingly large stockpile of aging Z-95 Headhunters and 'uglies'. These ships were often used by pirates or mercenaries who were unable to afford or maintain newer or better-quality ships but they were still deadly in the hands of a determined and suicidal pilot. The headhunters had once been solid, nimble starfighters boasting two laser cannons and respectable shielding, but that was a long time ago. They were now inferior in every way to the modern fighter craft, even the basic of the basic Imperial Tie-Fighters.

The 'uglies' as they were affectionally called were, to put it simply, just that. Hideous works of necessity, these craft had started appearing between the end of the Clone Wars and the beginning of the Galactic Civil War. A mounting excess of discarded star-fighter parts and an increasing demand for starfighters had inevitably led to their creation. It was easy to create an 'ugly', all you had to do was take random parts of at least two different starfighters and slap them together and hope. Not every combination worked but soon winning combinations had become favorites. Even more surprising, some of these combinations had actually improved upon some of the weaknesses of various craft. But despite these heroic efforts of ingenious minds, the 'uglies' were always frowned upon. In the right hands, however, this disdain could be easily taken advantage of in combat.

Leaning back Kevin felt much more confident about the situation. Numbers were the only disadvantage at the moment and judging on the slow progress of the unknown fleet, he would have several days at least to consolidate his position and await reinforcements from his allies.

"Admiral, deploy the emissary ships, let's send out the call." _And hope that we get help faster than we usually do…_ As his orders were carried out he found himself guiltily rebuking himself for his last thought. He had many allies that were extraordinarily loyal that would come charging to the fight with fanatical devotion. _The only problem is that so many of them are extremely far away…_ That was the problem with space, of course. It was easy to say 'space is big' but the human mind just couldn't fathom exactly how much of an understatement that was.

The galaxy was full of life, damned near crowded with it, but that still didn't change the fact that most of the galaxy was uninhabited nothingness. The best part about Earth's position was that it was extremely isolated from the rest of the galaxy where the major players tore at one another time and time again. Unfortunately, this isolation left Earth greatly separated from the numerous allies that he had gained over the years. Even with the time that he had before this unknown fleet reached earth, his ships would be forced to make a stand… alone.

 _Sithspawn…_ Kevin swore as he prepared a communications channel. He really liked the irony of such foul remarks, he was technically a Sith after all. Unfortunately, the situation was, despite everything, quite dire. The jewel that was the Earth was in danger and if he had any hope of successfully defending it he needed the people to stand with him. Right now, the world's governments probably had their hands full tearing out their own hair, his fleet was clearly visible and they had entered the system without their stealth systems activated, the whole world could see them. But if Kevin was going to get the whole world on his side he needed to reach out to the one man who had a chance of doing just that, Lieutenant Colonel Treize Kushrenada.

* * *

Treize was not surprised that the grand admiral was reaching out to him after boldly jumping his fleet to well within visual range of the planet. At this very moment millions of concerned people were nervously casting their gazes skyward as the menacing arrowhead shapes of the Star-Destroyers drew ever closer to their eventual orbits around the earth. Governments all over the world were reacting to the sudden appearance of the threat and militaries were being mobilized, plans were being drawn up and without any help from Treize himself, the world was quickly turning against his adversary.

However, even though everything was going according to his plans a few minor details gave him pause. The grand admiral, should have been addressing the planet at the moment, not just him, that was by far his best tactic at the moment. He needed to cement himself in whatever image he intended before his already miserable public opinion turned even worse. If this had never been his plan and had chosen instead to arrive as a conqueror his fleet should have already begun their initial planetary bombardment. Instead his adversary had chosen to do begin maneuvers that would bring his ships even closer to the planet, _interesting… what are you up to dear friend?_

Still in his luxurious office, Treize accepted the transmission and the grand admiral's surroundings threw him off for the briefest of moments. He had never seen Kevin in what he assumed was his command suite, he had only ever received transmissions from his stateroom aboard the _Night Hammer._ Kevin was surrounded by tactical equipment and hordes of information and data were displayed around him that at a glance Treize was unable to make sense of. Before he could speak a greeting, an alert chimed on one of his consoles and he paused when he noticed that Kevin was attempting to send him a very large cache of information.

"This is not a trick Treize… the earth is about to be attacked by a fleet much larger than my own. I will be blunt, I cannot win this fight alone." His adversary's expression was grave, dark, and sincere. If anyone else had been speaking to him he would have suspected a misdirection or some form of a trick, but not from Kevin. The young man was plagued by a sense of honor that tarnished his ability for greatness. The art of intrigue did not come easily to the man and his skills for politics and subversion suffered greatly because of this. Treize felt his heart grow cold as he forwarded the information to his subordinates for analysis, this threat was real.

"I… understand… other than a complete and total suspension of hostilities, what is it that you require of me?" Kevin blinked in surprise for a moment and the tension in his posture changed somewhat as he reacted to Treize's words. Clearly, he had expected the conversation to be a drastically different one.

"I need men, materials… and all of those cunning little tricks that you were about to employ against me… I need those too…" Kevin's image glared at him for a moment before he continued speaking and for the first time in his life he felt the menace of the man's mystical powers. A creeping sense of dread wormed its way into his heart as the young man's malicious gaze intensified. "And you will release your prisoners and turn them over to my people when they arrive."

"Of course." Treize found himself saying easily, as if the all too clear threat hadn't just sent waves of terror down his spine. Fear, it was a new feeling for him. The emotion and others had no place in his mind and were counterproductive, he had purged their existence long ago. And yet, despite his best efforts, fear was back. "I just want you to know, dear friend, that some of my soldiers disobeyed my orders and initiated maneuvers that they were not authorized to undertake. Luckily, however, your own machinations prevented the situation from deteriorating further." His words had clearly confused the young man, _good, he doesn't know what has happened yet…_ Kevin took a moment to compose himself and dismissively waved off his words.

"We will talk about that later, right now I have work to do… I need to you to designate a landing zone for several freighters that will be arriving in orbit within the next several hours."

"What will these freighters be delivering?"

"A shield generator." Treize froze once more, this time completely caught off-guard. Kevin's own planet had a planetary shield generator that protected it from any orbital landing or attack. And since his entire fleet was taking up defensive positions around earth it was obvious that he wasn't concerned about protecting that world. This could only mean that he was in possession of second planetary shield generator and he as giving it to him. Once activated the earth would be safe from any outside threat, including his own fleet.

"I assume that you will have safeguards installed to prevent me from using this against you?" Kevin's face went blank and he slowly leaned back in his chair as he regarded Treize with a penetrating stare for a few moments.

"I do but I know that you will find ways around them eventually." A small, but hard smile crept across his face as he said this. _Know your enemy, and you can easily defeat him… he thinks that he knows what I am capable of… the fool._

"Then you are a fool."

"Am I?"

"No… is there anything else that you need me to do? I will ready my forces for deployment… but I will need to keep considerable assets on the ground in case the Russians try something-."

"Leave them to me, I need everything that you have Treize… everything… we will need the world to stand with us… without everyone behind us there can be no victory here."

Once the transmission was over Treize immediately consulted with his subordinates and he saw for himself exactly how desperate the situation was. Unfortunately, just as he was entering his command center deep underground his headquarters, he received a disheartening report, things had just gotten worse, much worse.

* * *

"Well… at least now we know what their plans are…" Kevin mused as he stared at the new set of information that his scouts had provided. Two hundred more ships had been sighted lagging behind the main enemy fleet. It hadn't taken him long to sort out exactly what these ships were meant for, the invasion of earth. This second fleet was almost entirely made up of slow moving, bulbous and lightly armed ships that could only have been designed for the transportation of materials, or more likely, an assault force. Millions of soldiers could be aboard these ships but despite the staggering number of troops that this invasion force contained Kevin found himself smiling anyway.

"Admiral, assemble our squadrons of Assault Gunboats, it looks like we have an Ill-defended convoy of slow moving targets for them to prey on." Natasi flashed a predatory smile as she saluted and hurriedly set herself into action assembling the strike force. They didn't have many of the Alpha Class Xg-1 Star Wings but their three squadrons would be able to cause considerable damage nonetheless. These heavily armed shuttles were ten-meter-long craft that sported a fixed dorsal wing flanked by two pairs of lateral folding wings. Armed with twin mounted laser cannons and twin mounted ion cannons the shuttles boasted a respectable armament for space combat. This, however, wasn't their primary role due to their overall average maneuverability and speed.

Their main armament consisted of two general purpose warhead launchers that could be outfitted with a variety of ordinance. Most Imperial strike-craft were not outfitted with hyperdrive systems or shields but these shuttles had both which made them perfect for hit and run attacks just like this one. The squadrons would be outfitted with a mixture of concussion missiles and proton torpedoes for this mission and Kevin knew exactly how devastating their sudden attack would be against the lightly armored, lightly defended, and unshielded transports.

There was however, a problem. The second enemy fleet did have some protection and that protection consisted of two dozen capital ships that he had identified as carriers. These massive ships were close to the size of his Star-Destroyers and even though they were lightly armed they boasted massive hangars that could quickly flood the area with strike craft to intercept any threat. His small strike-force would more than likely be cut to pieces before they could escape back into the safety of hyperspace, they would need support.

Luckily, however, he had a bold plan. Most of the enemy carriers were in the heart of their fleet, giving them the best force projection for their strike craft. If, before the assault gunboats began their attack run, four Victory-Class Star Destroyers suddenly appeared and unleashed hell upon the enemy fleet, the defenders would be far too distracted to notice them. Smiling to himself he contacted Captain Reinhardt aboard the _Reaper_ , his aggressive personality made him ideal to lead the assault.

* * *

Finally, after years of idleness, he was heading into battle. In truth, there had been a minor skirmish almost two years ago where the admiral had handily defeated a group of renegades at the fringes of their territory. However, his ship hadn't been present for that limited engagement, no glory had gone to him nor his crew, that was about to change.

Captain Gustav Reinhardt had been given overall command of the attack group, he nearly shook with anticipation as his small task force made the jump into hyperspace. The jump would be short, their appearance would be sudden, his attack would be swift and punishing. The scouts had provided him with coordinates that would bring his attack force just 'above' the enemy fleet, well within striking range of their carriers. The main objective was to destroy as many of the troop transports as possible but he had been given strict instructions to distract the carriers for as long as possible. _Oh I'll distract them! I'll distract them right to their damned graves!_

At nine-hundred meters in length his ship boasted twenty turbolaser batteries and twenty more double heavy turbolaser batteries, death and destruction would burst forth from every battery upon his enemies as soon as his ship reappeared in 'real' space. The ship also had ten heavy ion cannons but these would be focused on disabling any of the transports within range as their bursts of energy disrupted or downright disabled electrical systems aboard their unfortunate targets.

"Weapons! Fire at all targets of opportunity on first contact, we will worry about coordinating fire with the rest of the fleet once the situation has been established." His young weapons officer saluted and turned to relay his orders, smiling excitedly as he did so. _It's a shame that some of our weapons are still non-operational…_ his ship was by far not in the worst shape but every inch of his ship had once functioned at one-hundred percent capability, but that was a long time ago.

"Thirty seconds to contact!" His navigations officer called out and he noticed with satisfaction that his entire bridge crew was tensing with anticipation for the approaching fight.

"Hit them hard, hit them fast, hit them some more and then hit them again until there's nothing left but space dust!" His crew cheered at his words and he allowed his deep voice to join in as they let lose their battle cry as they rid themselves of fear. Their enemies would not have this chance, their enemies would only feel panic and confusion as his ships tore into them like demons, _this is going to be glorious!_

Moments later the strike force tore out of hyperspace dangerously close to the massive enemy fleet. Just over one-hundred turbolaser batteries opened fire in every direction, their destructive force immediately apparent as their targets quickly became rippled with explosions. Several transports quickly succumbed to the sudden and ferocious attack and hundreds of escape pods shot away from the doomed ships. Orders were barked and weapons were redirected and soon every available weapon was focused on the enemy carriers.

"Helm! Realign and standby for immediate jump once Tau squadron has completed their attack run!" The lights of the bridge flickered momentarily as the shields struggled to withstand the last barrage of enemy fire. The enemy carriers hadn't been sitting idle while their charges had come under attack and the space around the Star-Destroyers was now swarming with enemy strike craft. Captain Reinhardt watched as a dozen explosions dotted the space around his ship, his point defense gunners were doing well, but they were being overwhelmed.

He had been given strict orders not to launch his own star-fighter squadrons, it would have been an act in futility. The victory class star-destroyers had smaller hangars than their newer, larger cousins and thus only held two squadrons of strike craft. Even if his strike force had managed to launch all eight of its squadrons in time, they would still have been woefully outnumbered. Standard Imperial starfighters were unshielded and lacked hyperdrives, but they were fast, very, very fast. The lack of hyperdrives meant that they needed ships like his to support them in engagements like this. It was becoming increasingly clear that his fighters would be hard pressed to launch from their hangars, let alone return to them while under fire.

This, of course, had been planned for and his ship, along with the _Vanguard, Monarch,_ and the _Hydra_ had exited hyperspace in a lopsided diamond, any enemy craft passing between them had to pass through a torrent of death as point defense weapons from every ship spat fire at them. The good news was that the enemy strike craft seemed to be just as flimsy as their own, slower, and armed with projectile weapons and small rockets, not lasers. The shields of his ship were struggling to hold back the onslaught but they were holding, for now. _Where the hell is Tau squadron? we can't sit here all damned day!_ As if his very thoughts had summoned them, one of his watch standers called out that the assault gunboats had arrived and were commencing their attack run.

* * *

"Tau leader to all ships, kill your safeties and pick your targets, we're only getting one shot at this so make it count!" A cacophony of confirmations crowded the channel for a few moments as thirty-five voices spoke all at once. "Sigma and Upsilon squadrons stick to your own damned channels, I can't hear myself think over here!" Almost immediately the channel cleared as the three squadrons separated and switched to their respective channels. Shaking his head, he checked his course again and made sure that his squadron wasn't doubling up on targets, _one of us per transport is overkill as it is._ But orders were orders, the massive enemy fighter presence was a dangerous threat to them so they were limited to a single attack run. _Pick a target, dump the payload, run away, easy._

He never would have considered his Alpha Class Xg-1 Star-Wing a fast ship, but as he accelerated to full throttle he found himself grinning nonetheless. In space everything was relative and the enemy transports that were accelerating for all they were worth away from the battle made his craft seem nimble and agile in comparison. The enemy ships were rapidly increasing in size and his targeting computer steadily began pinging as the distance to his bulbous target decreased. A second alert caught his attention, several squadrons of enemy fighters had broken off from the main fight and were scrambling to intercept his squadron, but it was too late.

The steady pinging solidified into a constant tone and his ship shuddered as a dozen concussion missiles and several proton torpedoes sprang forth from the massive launchers on either side of his cramped cockpit. He had approached his target from below and to the rear and had disabled the guidance functions on the warheads. As he quickly overtook his target the first missiles struck home and as the engines exploded several more warheads dug into the lower flank of the ship. Multiple hull breaches erupted across the lower section of the massive transport and as he angled his ship away from the dying craft he quickly noted that the rest of his squadron had had similar success with their attack runs, save one. His squadron of twelve ships had somehow managed to destroy thirteen transports.

"Tau 5… you greedy bastard..." Even though there was no evidence that it had been the young hotshot his gut told him that he was the only one who would try to pull a risky maneuver such as that. It was true that their ships had carried more than enough ordinance to destroy a single target but even with that knowledge it was still quite risky to assume that half would do the job just as well.

"Not greedy lead, just being efficient." The young hotshot's response came back quickly and he couldn't help but smile as he shook his head.

"Your orders were to use all of your ordinance on a single target…"

"Apologies sir… seemed like a waste."

"Showoff… alright boys form up and prepare for hyperspace jump, those fighters will be here soon and we do not want to be around when they get here!" As he said this he noted that the other two squadrons had finished their attack runs as well and thirty-seven of the enemy ships were in varying stages of destruction. Escape pods beyond counting were streaking away from the dying ships, so many his targeting computer was having difficulty tracking them all. With their mission complete he led his squadron away from the enemy fleet and just his hyperdrive began to spool up he overheard panicked voices on the communications channel, one of the Star Destroyers was in trouble.

* * *

"What the hell happened?" Captain Reinhardt bellowed. He had just watched the assault gunboat squadrons disappear into the safety of hyperspace and was about to order his ships to do the same when one of his watch-standers had informed him that the _Hydra's_ engines had suffered damage.

"Sir, the Hydra's shields went down for a moment and she took a hit to her engines… maneuvering capabilities are limited and her hyperdrive is non-functional!"

"Get me the Hydra!" Almost immediately a holographic image of the ship's captain appeared in front of his command chair. The younger officer was on his feet and was frantically calling out orders, his words weren't panicked but his face was morbidly grave. It took several moments before the man noticed that a communications channel had been opened but once he did he nodded gravely and began speaking.

"Captain Reinhardt, my engineers need time to make repairs but refuse to tell me how much time… our shields are back up and holding but-." The image flickered for a moment as the _Hydra_ took more fire, it seemed that the enemy strike craft were focusing their fire on the ship now and it was only a matter of time before her shields failed entirely. Acting quickly, he ceased listening to Captain Stillwell and modified the communications channel to include the other two ships in the strike force.

"All ships launch fighters! All squadrons will provide cover for the _Hydra!_ " Captain Stillwell's image nodded gravely again and hastily saluted before vanishing. The fighters would be horribly outnumbered and it was almost a certainty that they would all perish but the brutal reality of the math was that if ninety-six pilots died to save a Star Destroyer with a crew of thousands then it would be worth it. _But if the Hydra's crew can't get their hyperdrive operational in time…_

"Send word to the admiral of the situation! Helm maneuver to these coordinates and have the _Monarch_ and _Vanguard_ take up defensive positions around the _Hydra!"_

"Sir, long range communications are being disrupted!" _Damnit…_ If the _Hydra_ wasn't able to effect repairs in time he would have to abandon her and her crew. Even though most of the enemy fire was focusing on the wounded ship enough was still being directed at the rest of his fleet and their shields were slowly being drained, it was only a matter of time before they began to take damage as well. And again, it was all about numbers… he would rather report the loss of a single Star Destroyer than several. Captain Reinhardt grimaced as his two fighter squadrons screamed away from the hangar.

The pilots were bravely going to their deaths and he knew that not one of them had hesitated upon hearing the order to launch. A bright explosion caught his attention and his grimace turned into a grim smile, a third enemy carrier had succumbed to their turbolaser fire. He allowed himself a moment to watch as the massive enemy warship was torn to pieces by a massive internal explosion. His gunners would now be acquiring new targets, no matter what happened, they weren't going down without a fight.

* * *

Almost entirely isolated from the rest of the bridge crew within his tactical command pit Kevin was overcome by an odd feeling, an odd feeling that he, Grand Admiral Anderson, would perhaps never get used to. At this very moment men and women were risking their lives, fighting for him, and he was handling matters that seemed trivial in comparison. He had just finished and distributed a message to Russia's military leaders and government officials. Within this message he sent up to date satellite images of their forces massing along and within the Ukrainian border and detailed simulations on what would happen to them if he chose to bombard their positions from orbit. He couldn't help but smile and feel proud of his blunt threat. _I know where your forces are and I can obliterate them if I so choose… not to mention your cities._ Even though he would never order a planetary bombardment of a civilian target… they didn't know that.

However, now that Russia's momentary obedience had been achieved it was time to deal with a more personal matter. It was true that at the moment there was a truce between himself and Treize, but how long would that last? If the truce proved to just be a matter of convenience and necessity then he needed to be sure that he was prepared for the future. The Earth was Treize's domain and his influence would certainly be expanding but there was one man who might resist him if his ambitions grew too overwhelming, General Douglas Heihn.

Unfortunately, the man had grown increasingly hostile towards Kevin over the years and did little to hide it. It wasn't that the man didn't like him personally, he simply despised the amount of power that Kevin had gained over the years and was vocally against it. Using the same logic, however, he would certainly be against the latest power grab that Treize was undertaking, or at least he hoped. General Heihn personally answered his communication almost immediately and visibly recoiled at the sight of the man whom he detested.

"Admiral?" Collecting himself but doing nothing to hide the disdain in his voice he spoke after hesitating for a few moments. The man's image was imposing and would probably intimidate lesser men. The general wore a dark black uniform that was mostly concealed underneath a black leather trench coat while his hands were covered by slick black leather gloves. His black hair was neatly slicked back adding an extra layer of hardness to his already rigid face. His cold penetrating gaze bore into Kevin through the view-screen, his pale blue eyes seemingly lifeless and unforgiving.

"I'll get straight to the point general, I need a favor." The grave man scoffed at this and his demeanor became even more insolent and uncooperative.

"Treize has already informed me that you will be needing my troops, what more do you want from me?" Suppressing a sigh Kevin forced himself to keep a calm demeanor and ignored the man's attempts at baiting him to anger.

"This isn't about troops general, it's a favor on a more personal level." An almost mocking smile erupted on the man's face and he folded his arms across his chest, responding haughtily.

"Oh, this ought to be priceless."

"I'll be frank with you General Heihn, I have a number of critically important individuals that I need kept safe. I would like to transport them to your base for protection and safe-keeping. I would also need you to withhold enough soldiers to protect your base against any enemy, can I count on you to do this?" The question caught the man completely off-guard and he slowly unfolded his arms and blankly stared back at him, dumbfounded.

"You're asking me…"

"Yes, I am asking you… can I count on your support?"

"I am no fool, Admiral, you know that I disapprove of you and everything that you stand for… why would you willingly hand over people that are important to you… to me? What would stop be from using them as hostages against you?"

"Again, I'll be frank, I am not worried about you at the moment, I am worried about Treize. He has already made attempts to seize these individuals and should he capture them again in the future…"

"Ah, I see your point admiral…" The man's appearance changed as he pondered the situation. He had even managed to say the word 'admiral' without making the word sound like a taunt. "If Treize were to get a hold of them-." If Treize had managed to get a hold of everyone and they were still at odds… Kevin wasn't sure if he had the resolve to resist if even the vaguest of threats had been made… especially if Treize had managed to get a hold of… her.

"I would rather that didn't happen General Heihn, can I count on you to keep them out of his hands… should the worst happen?" _The worst being we somehow manage to defeat these invaders and Treize and I go back to open war… my fleet will be greatly diminished and I will have so many of Treize's own soldiers aboard my ships… even if we win this I could end up losing everything. Save the world from alien invaders only to lose it to Treize…_

"Send me your… friends… I will do all that I can to keep them safe. Don't worry I won't let Treize get his greedy hands on them, they will be safe here. Just make sure that you do your job and protect the planet, I can't keep them safe if my base gets bombarded from orbit."

"If Treize gets the damned planetary shield generator up and running in time you won't have to worry about that general."

"And if he doesn't?" The tension between the two men dissipated and Kevin stared back at the man, for the first time there seemed to be no malice between them. Sighing heavily, he shook his head slowly and momentarily closed his eyes as he spoke.

"If that shield generator isn't online before the enemy fleet attacks then my fleet will engage them in battle and we will do as much damage to them as possible. My ships outclass theirs in every way but without reinforcements their greater numbers will give them a significant advantage." General Heihn nodded gravely before ending the transmission. Even though Kevin hadn't said the words it was obvious what would happen if the shield generator wasn't operational in time. His fleet would fight and one by one they would be wiped out. He needed more time. He needed more ships. He needed that blasted shield generator protecting Earth.

His grim thoughts were thankfully interrupted as an alert appeared on one of his tactical displays. The assault gunboat squadrons had just returned from their attack mission and the squadron leader was broadcasting an alert. Not needing to process the information flooding onto his displays Kevin bolted into action, the Star Destroyers hadn't returned, something was wrong.

* * *

"Ash, where are my lads?" Gerrard's first words since the attack were directed towards the woman who had disarmed Olivia. The woman, who just like Hans, had yet to remove her sunglasses, adjusted her hat slightly and looked around the room as if wondering how much she should say.

"They are… currently engaged in an operation at the moment…"

"Damnit woman speak plainly." She nodded towards Olivia and Gerrard made a dismissive noise in response. "Don't worry about it, these people are on our side." Clearly reluctant to speak so plainly in front of everyone the woman hefted her assault rifle over her shoulder as she leaned her back against one of the lab's many brick walls.

"Treize is scheduled to release the clone and his woman, they are on route to retrieve them. General Heihn provided transport. Orders are to muster at his base."

"Why would he go to so much trouble to capture them just to release them now? What's changed?" Olivia's question hung in the air and most of the armed soldiers seemingly ignored her. Their medic had checked each one of them over and was currently assisting Peter with an inspection of Chloe and Max. Once Walter had recovered enough to move he had fussed and raged that no one had gone to see if Gene was okay. With some help from Astrid the pair had discovered that Gene the cow was only slightly agitated and was perfectly safe.

As Olivia's hearing had slowly returned she had overheard a few of the soldiers conversing amongst themselves about their discovery of Gene with the usual 'is that a cow?" remarks. It was these remarks that had enraged Walter and he had lamented that the medic hadn't checked her over yet.

If the soldiers weren't interested in Gene they were certainly interested in Kimberly, which made Olivia very uneasy. Not seeming to notice the extra attention that she was receiving Kimberly slowly recovered but was urged to remain seated once a chair was provided for her. Olivia's question went unanswered and Hans burst into the room followed by two soldiers. Even though it was impossible to tell, she was certain that he took a moment to lock eyes with the auburn pony-tailed soldier and she returned the glare. Even though it became clear that he was about to speak he found himself interrupted and all eyes went to Chloe.

"What the fuck is it with you and those sunglasses, what are you, cyclops or something?" Despite the tense atmosphere a few of the soldiers chuckled but Hans expertly ignored the comment even though Ash clearly bristled unhappily.

"Jager, take my team outside and secure the landing zone, evac will be here shortly." Barely had he finished speaking when five of the soldiers quickly filed out of the lab. He then turned towards Olivia and spoke to her in a matter of fact tone that stated he was not interested in any argument.

"I have my orders and I am inclined to believe that you may interfere so I am extending a courtesy to you and your team Agent Dunham. You may accompany us or you may remain here, those are your only two options."

"Who's us?" Responding defensively, she shifted her stance and as she did so saw Ash and another soldier tense. Lee waved them down but cast Olivia a look of warning nonetheless. Seemingly not noticing the events transpiring around him Hans continued speaking in the same tone.

"Our primary objective is the safety of Kimberly Dominic, but we are also interested in the well-being of Maxine Caulfield and Chloe Price, all three will be coming with us to a secure location. As I said before, should you wish to accompany us a courtesy has been extended to you but should you choose to remain here I implore you not to interfere." Olivia's eyes shot towards Kimberly who was doing her best not to meet her gaze. The room had gone deathly quiet, all eyes were on her. Max and Chloe, she somewhat understood, but what did Kevin's forces want with Kimberly? Her thoughts were interrupted as Canderous began to chuckle softly. The noise steadily grew until most of the room's attention was on him until he burst out into full blown laughter. Somehow, despite his state, he managed a few words between his cackling.

"And here I thought… you guys had been sent to… rescue us… but the boss… he sent you… to save his… his girl!" _His girl?_ Kevin's men in the room shifted uncomfortably, even Hans seemed slightly embarrassed. But none were as embarrassed as Kimberly, her face was bright red, confirming everything.

Olivia didn't know when it had happened but somehow, even though the two hadn't spoken when they had met so many years ago, a common interest had formed. The pair had apparently started a secret relationship and that could only mean one thing.

"Those soldiers that attacked us… they weren't trying to retrieve Max and Chloe… they were here for her, weren't they? Treize sent them here for her!" Hans nodded at her question and Kimberly managed to look even more uncomfortable concerning the situation.

"We don't have to worry about him for the moment… but I'm sure that you can appreciate the need to get her, and the others, to safety. Should the disagreement between him and our boss continue your team might also find themselves targets. So it would also be in your best interest to come with us, you did after all assist in disrupting Treize's kidnapping attempt of the two girls."

"Assist?" Her thoughts immediately went back to the odd discrepancies in the after-action report. "Let me guess, some of your men were involved as well." Hans nodded towards Canderous before answering.

"His men to be more specific, but yes." Canderous smiled at hearing this.

"How many did Glaz get?"

"Four it seems, unfortunately none of the grunts took credit for his kills, I'm sure he's rather upset about that." Lee Martin reported quickly without thinking, apparently the after-action reports had been 'acquired' by Kevin's men. _How the hell did they manage that?_

"I'm sure as hell not, about time that boy did something wrong… he makes the rest of us look bad!" Still laughing Canderous rose to his feet and cocked his head to the side as a low whine could be heard in the distance. "Our ride's here, we better move." Before the invitation could be extended once more Olivia found her voice.

"I'm coming… we're all coming."

* * *

Initially the sudden appearance of the Tie-Fighters and Tie-Interceptors had shifted the balance of the engagement. The enemy pilots had immediately become overwhelmed from the vicious attack of their adversaries and they were blasted out of existence a few dozen at a time. The impressive skill of his pilots and the breathtaking speed of their craft was a nightmare to behold for the enemy fighters. The combination of the point defense guns from all four Star Destroyers and their now deployed vengeful fighter squadrons wreaked havoc on the enemy. But skill and determination were no match for numbers.

With each passing minute Captain Reinhardt watching with increasing futility as the ninety-six brave men and women met their ends. Currently less than half of his fighter squadrons remained and their numbers were steadily shrinking. Standing next to his commutations suite he could hear their elated cries of triumph as they scored kill after kill and he tried not to wince as their voices were cut short in screams of desperate panic and anguish as their craft were ripped apart by enemy fire.

"Intensify point defense fire! We need to give them more time!" His orders were acknowledged but his words were meaningless. His gunners were already desperately fighting with everything that they had and then some, there was simply nothing more that he could do for his pilots. Most of the pressure had been taken off of the _Hydra_ , and her shields were steadily regaining strength as her crew desperately tried to repair the damage to their engines but they were quickly running out of time. As their fighter squadrons numbers slowly declined the enemy pressure would increase. The mood on the bridge had deteriorated to such a point that not a single cheer of elation erupted as the fifth enemy carrier exploded in a brilliant blast of fury. It no longer mattered how many enemies were slaughtered, one of their own was in danger.

"New Contact! Danger close!" Captain Reinhardt felt his blood go cold as he turned towards his sensors officer to discover what the new threat to his ship was. He froze in mid-motion as his eyes swept across the exterior view-ports that lined the bridge. The unmistakable sight of the _Night Hammer_ dominated the view, the admiral had come to their aid and he had brought his flagship right into the fray. All at once thousands of turbolaser batteries unleashed a magnificently deadly barrage in all directions at the enemy ships and over a thousand strike-craft of varying types screamed into the fight. The crew on his bridge erupted in a great cheer, the grand admiral had come to the rescue with fire and fury.

* * *

"Tractor beams lock onto their transports, hold them fast! All weapons intensify and focus fire on those carriers! Nothing escapes!" Natasi was growling orders out across the bridge while Kevin calmly gave out orders of his own.

"Maximum fire to port. Squad leaders proceed starboard, make sure you stay out of our fire envelopes. All squadrons are to assume defensive posture around the fleet, interception of enemy craft only." Hopefully once the battle was over Natasi wouldn't be too hard on the crew, most of the enemy fleet was already safely out of range but several unfortunate transports had found themselves caught and being dragged back towards the fight. Most of the remaining carriers were still well within range of their weapons and the effect was devastating. Two of the ships were immediately crippled and put out of action, a third was ripped apart by a series of internal explosions by the first volley of nearly a thousand turbolser batteries. The ship had probably already suffered heavy damage during the fight but the effect of his flagship's weapons made him smile. His enemies may have numbers, but he had the _Night Hammer._ The mere presence of the mighty warship was enough to send enemies running but along with its massive size it boasted more firepower than the rest of his fleet combined.

The nineteen thousand meters of his ship were armed with two thousand standard turbolaser batteries and another two-thousand heavy turbolaser batteries, the destructive capabilities of his ship were equaled by none. This statement was boldly being made at the moment as the enemy fleet visibly withered from the sudden assault while his strike craft screamed into the battle to save their overwhelmed comrades.

Two hundred and fifty heavy ion cannons added to the chaos but their effect was less apparent. Each blast from these weapons wreaked havoc on the electrical systems of the enemy ships, with enough hits a ship could be disabled entirely. These weapons were being focused on the transports that were still in range while an equal number of concussion missile batteries remained silent. These weapons were not needed at the moment and he only had a finite amount of ammunition onboard that would most certainly be needed for the upcoming battle for earth.

The forty tractor beams had all snared prey and the doomed transports were slowly and unmercifully being dragged back towards the fight. Like a predatory spider Natasi would certainly save those meals for later once the enemy carriers had been dealt with. The five-hundred point defense laser cannons were mostly being directed to the port of the warship and away from the fleet so that their fighter squadrons could engage their enemies without fear of being hit by their own weapons. Fully stocked with starfighters the hangars could hold thousands of starfighters but at present fifteen-hundred craft occupied the hangars and many were still blasting into the fight.

The fight, however, was mostly over. The enemy fleet had obviously been given orders to retreat and most of the transports and the remaining carriers had managed to escape out of the effective range of their weapons. The remaining enemy strike craft who were unable to break off from their engagements were mercilessly hunted down and destroyed.

"Admiral, capture and retrieve a dozen escape pods and leave the rest, I would like to meet our enemy." Natasi's gaze hardened and she walked over towards his command pit and lowered her voice.

"Sir, we should destroy them all." She did have a point of course, there were thousands upon thousands of escape pods, most of them from the enemy transports that undoubtedly mostly contained soldiers that would be used in the invasion of Earth. They were his enemy and they would need to be dealt with and he would certainly have no qualms in ordering their execution. However, he had other plans for them.

"Our enemies' greatest weakness is time. The more time we can steal from them the more time we are given to prepare our defense. Every moment that is wasted recovering their army from space gives us more of a chance for victory." Nodding his second in command acknowledged his orders but still didn't look happy about them so he tried a different approach. "Also, we must show our enemy that we are not evil. Those escape pods are no threat to us at the moment and are at our mercy. If we were to mercilessly destroy them we would prove to their soldiers that we are evil and they would fight that much harder to defeat us. However, by allowing them to live we show them that we are only their enemy by circumstance and if we can convince them not to fight because it is clear that they cannot win…" Natasi finished his thought for him as her expression softened.

"If their forces feel that they cannot win they will flee or even turn on their leaders who are sending them to their deaths… you're not fighting the Empire anymore, sir, but you are right… the tactic still may apply."

"Indeed, our enemy is most certainly humanoid… maybe even human and I'm willing to bet we are dealing with a totalitarian form of government due to the massive focus on military resources that such a large fleet would require but we still need to know more about our enemy… please acquire two dozen prisoners, we should be able to hold that many for a time?" Natasi nodded but frowned as she regarded him for a moment.

"Your conclusions… I know that Thrawn trained you for a time but I've never been able to understand how you make these deductions. I don't doubt you, sir… I'm just curious." She added the last bit quickly as if to ward off any offense her words might give. As usual she was completely oblivious to the fact that no matter what she was incapable of offending him, no matter how brittle she might be at times. She was a hard woman no doubt and was perfectly fit for her position but this came at a cost, her ability to communicate peaceably with others suffered and her icy disposition didn't help matters. But she was his second in command, he had chosen her for a number of reasons but over the years she had nurtured him as young boy in her own way and he would never forget that. He may have been robbed of his family and his youth when he had been abducted by Darth Vader but Admiral Natasi Daala had proved to be an unexpected foster mother even if she hadn't intended to be.

"Well the ship design is unmistakably humanoid… we always build in straight angles and very rarely design ships with beauty in mind. Their ships are functional and purpose built, just like ours. Them being human is just a hunch really, I'm leaning towards that thought because all of our closest neighbors are human's like the Taidani but I could be wrong. Their form of government and organization is only a natural deduction. A fleet as large as theirs can only be fielded by a very efficiently run form of government which as we have seen with the New Republic, the more freedom you add the less efficient you get." Natasi scoffed at the mention of the New Republic, her old sworn enemy. Long ago, shortly after the fall of the Empire she had led an effective guerilla war against them and done considerable damage with only three Star-Destroyers at her command. She had tried and failed to rally other Imperial warlords to her side. Her increasing frustration with the breakup of the Empire had led her to attempt a risky theft of an Imperial Super Star Destroyer that was nearing construction by one of the more powerful warlords.

Unfortunately for her it had been a trap and her small force had been ambushed and surrounded by Superior General Sander Delvardus's forces. Natasi had been leading her commando teams aboard the near complete _Night Hammer_ when the trap had been sprung and they too had been accosted. The pompously self-titled warlord would have succeeded in his trap if it hadn't been for Kevin's own plans at stealing the ship. Kevin and his own forces had already been aboard the massive warship as well and he had personally rescued the infamous Admiral Natasi Daala and his own fleet had arrived. Once it became clear who he was most of Delvardus's forces had surrendered, and Daala's fleet, unsure of what to do had also stood down.

Back then Kevin hadn't been called Grand Admiral Anderson but had been known by several different names. Darth Vader's Apprentice was the most common name but those who knew him respectfully referred to him as Darth Revan or simply Lord Revan. It was widely known that he had fought against the Empire before it had fractured but it was also known that he was no friend of the so called 'New Republic' either. He was also seen as an ally to Grand Admiral Thrawn at the time who was succeeding where Natasi had failed as he slowly tried to piece the Empire back together while he continued the desperate struggle against the New Republic.

In truth though, Kevin had never been officially inducted into the Sith line of succession so he had never been dubbed a 'Darth' but he had found an ancient Sith relic while on an exploration of the Sith home world of Korriban, the mask of Revan. The scarred mask had seduced him, he had received a similar wound during his fight against Darth Vader which at the time was still quite gruesome. He had it repaired and wore it in battle and quickly noticed that former Imperials trembled when they saw his masked presence, memories of Darth Vader still plagued their minds.

Even though it had never been official he had been hailed as the heir to the Sith which gave him massive support from former Imperials but condemned him in the eyes of the New Republic. He was fine with this however, because once he had learned of the location of Earth he took the forces most loyal to him and left for his true home. Many of his followers had chosen to stay and fight for the dying Empire alongside Thrawn. The blue skinned, red eyed Chiss had been responsible for much of Kevin's military training and the two had become quick friends but Kevin's hatred for the Empire and his desire for home prevented him from joining Thrawn's crusade to restore the Empire and the two had gone separate ways.

Kevin often wondered if Thrawn's tragic death could have been prevented if he had fought by his side but during a decisive battle against the struggling New Republic Thrawn's own personal bodyguard had killed him. Lacking Thrawn's tactical genius the battle had turned and what could have been the end of the New Republic turned into the deathblow for the reforming Empire. Kevin had always liked the blue skinned genius but his lust for home and his desire for peace had been too great to ignore. He had always felt like a stranger back then and when he had learned of his true home he had understood why. Unfortunately, he still felt like a stranger but at least not he had something to protect. If Kiera had never been taken from him, if he had never failed her, he might have remained but…

"Sir?" _Shit… she noticed… how long have I not been paying attention… damnit…_ Natasi's face softened noticeably but she quickly recovered and regained her icy composure. She motioned her head towards her stateroom door which was attached to the bridge. She usually did this when she thought he needed to talk about personal matters. Kevin sighed and shook his head slowly and did his best to show her that he was alright and didn't need to talk but she saw straight through him.

"Admiral, let's make sure that the crews of those transports that we have captured have more than enough time to abandon ship before we destroy them… the more survivors the more time we gain."

"Yes, sir." She shot him a fierce glare to show him that he hadn't fooled her but she nonetheless did a swift about face and quickly returned to her command chair to carry out his orders. Sighing heavily, he quietly reprimanded himself for allowing his thoughts to drift to Kiera in the presence of Natasi, she always noticed.

Returning his attention to his tactical displays it became apparent that the battle was over. The _Hydra_ was moderately damaged and his four Victory-Class Star Destroyers had lost almost all of their strike craft. But as his thoughts went to the men and women who had lost their lives defending the _Hydra_ he forced himself to look at the bigger picture. The enemy had suffered greatly, just about half of their troop transports had been destroyed or disabled and only half a dozen of their carriers had managed to flee to safety, many of them heavily damaged.

Their strike craft squadrons had suffered as well but not in loss of numbers, even though they had suffered devastating casualties. For every carrier that had been destroyed they had lost the ability to refuel, rearm, and resupply. Due to the large number of the enemy carriers it was clear that their strike craft were almost exclusively short range and would run out of fuel long before they reached earth. It was going to be a logistical nightmare for the enemy fleet to retrieve all of the escape pods and soon to be stranded strike craft from the battlefield.

Thinking of this he frowned. He had missed something… why was his enemy traveling through this system using only conventional drives, they certainly had faster than light capabilities so why would they be plodding through this empty section of space?


	6. Chapter 6: Arbiter

**Chapter 6: Arbiter**

 _Kate!_ Kevin's eyes shot open and he found himself seated, his arms bound behind his back. Struggling against his bonds he froze in place as the world reformed before him when he noticed that he was mostly surrounded by half a dozen armed, tense, gaudily uniformed soldiers. His mind groggy and unfocused, his memories returned to him sluggishly. He and Kate had been captured by Treize Faction soldiers. They had been captured because he hadn't been strong enough to protect them and if anything had happened to Kate it would be his fault.

"What have you done with Kate?" He tried to growl out his words menacingly but they were sloppy and uncoordinated. The soldiers chuckled and smiled at his weakness but none of them offered a response.

"Master Treize, he's awake." A woman's hard and emotionless voice startled him coming from directly behind him.

"Excellent, it's about time you joined us…" The soldiers in front of him slowly parted revealing a long ornate dining table and at the other end sat the illustriously uniformed Colonel Treize Kushrenada. His uniformed jacket was mostly dark blue with a section of white at the center of his chest, decorated with golden epaulettes. His ornamental collar was a mixture of black and gold and was adorned with a white handkerchief. His light brown hair was slicked back although a few strands had fallen out of place and currently hung down the left side of his forehead just above his piercing light blue eyes. Kevin had only met him a few times before and as always, he wore a confident and reassuring smile. Struggling against his weakness Kevin decided to try and wipe that smug smile off the man's face.

"You know that I could kill you before your men could stop me, right?" However, his words only made the man's smile broaden and he waved his men to stand down. His words had startled them and they had tensed, gripping their weapons tighter as if they feared having them suddenly torn from them. Several gun barrels had been pressed hard against the back and sides of his neck but now they slowly withdrew.

"Indeed? But of course, if that were to happen you would most certainly condemn your dear friend Kate to a similar fate. Of that I would certainly be saddened because I always look forward to dining with your beautiful and lovely fiancé."

"Where is she?" His words came out clear and crisp for once, each word was hard and menacing but his threatening demeanor was lost on Treize who only smiled pleasantly back at him.

"She will arrive once I have secured a vow from you that you will behave yourself. I ask that once you are released of your bonds that you take on the attitude of an honorable gentleman and suffer what remains of your captivity with distinction. Once you have given me your word Kate will join us and we shall dine together and discuss your future. Now, do you give me your word as an honorable man?"

He shouldn't have been so surprised by Treize's words but he was. The man was an aristocrat who dressed and acted like someone several hundred years from the past. However, the unspoken threat hung in the air however. If he behaved himself no harm would come to Kate, but if he didn't…

"You have my word that I shall attempt no escape nor act with hostility to any of your men." Treize smiled at this and raised a half empty glass of wine in a slight toast.

"We shall eat then, but first." Treize nodded to someone behind Kevin and in a matter of moments he was released of his bonds and the soldiers retreated several paces. Two of the men, still carrying their weapons, moved to one of the room's thick ornate wooden double doors and simultaneously opened them. Escorted on either side by two more finely dressed armed soldiers Kate glided into the room, her head held high but her eyes were full of barely contained fury.

Kevin felt his breath catch in his chest as he took in the sight of his love, she was dressed like royalty, she wore her fine pale-blue dress with ease and moved through the room with majestic grace. The guards themselves were enchanted by her appearance and as Treize rose to greet her with a deep bow he found himself on his feet as well. Kate approached the man and allowed him to take one of her hands and seemed entirely unimpressed as he lightly kissed it. As Treize withdrew Kate caught the entire room off-guard as she struck him across the face with the very hand that he had just caressed. The percussion of the strike was sharp and Kevin couldn't help but smile as a wounded look of surprise spread across their captor's face.

His smile, however, vanished when Kate cast him a quick and icy look. Beautiful and venomous Kate was certainly not happy about the current situation and he would count himself fortunate if she acted similarly towards him later. He had never seen her furious before but as she made her way to a chair in the middle of the table that was being held for her by two more soldiers he became overwhelmed with shame. He had lied to her about many things, his 'job', his powers, his training… _would she have believed me if I had told her anyway?_ Without a second look at either of the men she took her seat and kept her gaze fixed straight ahead.

The woman who had been behind him finally revealed herself and marched straight towards Kate. Clearly a woman of note she was almost as finely dressed as her superior. Dressed in a deep burgundy uniformed jacket, spotless white pants, and finely polished black boots the woman might have been quite a sight, if her expression wasn't so grave. Her light brown hair was secured in a double-bun while her cold unfeeling brown eyes glared at Kate as she approached from behind a pair of thin spectacles.

"If you do that again you insolent little-." Kevin was on his feet immediately causing a flurry of activity as every weapon in the room was trained on him. Ignoring the arsenal that was directed at him he locked eyes with the woman. Kate turned to face him and for a fraction of a second he noticed the anger in her eyes fade but it was a fleeting moment. Before Kevin could focus his own anger into words Treize intervened.

"Please excuse Lady Une, she forgets herself sometimes." Shifting his gaze towards his subordinate he spoke directly to her using a slightly harder tone. "Lady, these are our guests, they will be treated accordingly. Please take the men and leave us." The woman balked at this for a moment but quickly composed herself and with the snap of her fingers the soldiers vanished. After a slight and stiff bow to Treize she too left the room.

Moments later half a dozen servants entered the room with overly plentiful amounts of food and drink. As the food was served and wine was poured Treize cast a quick, studying glance at Kate and turned towards Kevin.

"As a man of honor, I feel I must inform you that your enchanting fiancé and I have already spoken in abundance," Kevin noticed Kate's expression soften slightly as she glanced down at the ring that he had given her but the moment passed just as quickly as it had before. "I have informed her that the secrets that have been kept from her are no fault of yours. You were simply following very strict orders. We also spoke of how you two are not, even though it may seem otherwise, my prisoners. You are my honored guests and shortly after the conclusion of our meal you will be released." Although Treize spoke the truth concerning the facts about himself that he had kept hidden from Kate, his words weren't wasted on Kevin. _He's trying to make himself out to be the bad guy here… not that it matters really… Kate has every right to be pissed at me… but why would he go through all this trouble to capture me and make me compliant if he is just going to let us go?_

Unable to contain his confusion Kevin frowned and noticed a dubious looking expression momentarily cross Kate's face as well. Trieze must have noticed their unspoken incredulity because he continued speaking.

"A number of events have transpired in a remarkably short period of time. I have already offered my deepest and most sincere apologies to your betrothed, your entanglement in the disagreement between myself and the grand admiral is unfortunate to say the least. I now extend the same apology towards you but precautions had to be taken."

"You certainly went through a great deal of effort to bring us here… an invitation to dinner would have sufficed… Master Treize." The man ignored the acidic and exaggerated tone he had used to accent his unofficial title.

"As I said, the situation has changed. Please, enjoy the food, you two must be famished." As he said this the last plates of food were served and Kevin eyed the feast arranged before him wolfishly. He was indeed hungry but the pompous display of wealth and culture was almost entirely lost on him. Artfully crafted entrée's fit for royalty and exquisite wines were arrayed before him but all he saw was food. Kate seemed entirely unimpressed as well but she too quickly filled her plate and began to eat, although with significantly more grace.

The food was indeed exquisite and masterfully prepared. Kevin was beginning to enjoy himself a little too much as he savored the experience. He had just finished washing down the most delicious piece of steak that had ever graced his tongue with a wine that had been perfectly matched to enhance the flavor when one of the sets of doors burst open. Several guards tried with futility to bar the way but their efforts were hopeless and a young woman untangled herself from the soldiers and stormed in. Her grace and beauty equaled Kate's but the wrath in her mismatched eyes was unmistakable. Though her eyes were of different colors, one ice blue and the other bright green, they both locked onto Treize in a silent accusing glare.

Again, several uniformed guards reached out to stop the finely dressed young woman but two other women were at her side in a heartbeat and forcibly pushed them aside. The two new arrivals wore hard and confident expressions, _bodyguards perhaps? Who is this woman… someone important certainly… what did Treize do to piss her off?_ _And why are his guards so terrified of her_? Smiling warmly Treize rose to his feet and welcomed the new arrivals, politely dismissing the guards as he did so.

"Welcome, please join us-." His words were cut short however when the woman with mismatched eyes stormed towards him and struck him in the face with such a force that he staggered momentarily. Almost entirely unfazed in his demeanor Treize steadied himself and continued as if nothing had happened even though the truth of the matter was blatantly told by the reddening mark on the side of his face. "- Princess Charlotte… to what do we owe this pleasure?"

As if noticing Kate and Kevin for the first time the woman's expression changed drastically as she exchanged a pleasant almost conspiratorial nod with Kate. The two had clearly met before and judging from the similarity in their clothing Kevin wondered if the dress that Kate had been provided with belonged to the princess that stood before him. Rising to his feet Kevin bowed slightly as the woman's gaze fell upon him but her warm expression darkened and turned dismissive after several moments of awkwardness between them. At first it had seemed as if she had recognized him but something had changed in her demeanor and she quickly turned her attention back to Treize. Kevin slowly took his seat once more and noticed Kate eyeing him sadly for a moment but she turned away quickly as his eyes went to her own.

"How dare you!" The Princess's words rang through the now silent room. Flinching from her powerful tone and the ferocious anger of her words Kevin's pleasure at the attack on Treize vanished when he realized that he had been the only one in the room to be startled by her outburst. "You brought us to the brink of war with the grand admiral, and for what?"

"Forgive me your highness, but I must remind you that the disagreement between myself and the grand admiral was not entirely one sided. If I may-."

"You may not!" His words were entirely lost on her and she shouted him to silence. "You forget yourself colonel. Do not worry yourself though, my displeasure will be directed towards him as well at a time and place more appropriate than the present. I will not interrupt our knightly protector whilst he is battling to protect us all. Had your schemes succeeded you would surely have doomed us all!"

"What are you talking about… what's going on?" Immediately regretting having spoken Kevin found himself on receiving end of the princess's fury.

"You will be silent in my presence! You forget yourself as well, no matter what you do nor how far you rise, you will never be anything more than a forgery, a counterfeit of greatness, nothing more! Never again will you speak to me, never!" Kevin found himself crushed under the weight of her ire. Her sharp words cut into him, reopening old wounds he had thought healed but thankfully the experience did not last long, Kate came to his rescue and his earlier suspicions were confirmed.

"Please, Lady Charlotte, you go too far. You judge him for things outside of his control, it's not fair." Nearly falling over themselves in shock the two women at the princess's side gaped at Kate's words but their mistress's reaction was starkly different. Her fury instantly faded and she cast Kevin an almost regretful glance but quickly returned her attention to Kate who had just now risen from her seat. Motioning for her companions to remain where they stood the princess quickly made her way around the large table and meekly embraced Kate.

"Forgive me Kate…" Returning the embrace with affection Kate motioned towards Kevin as if to insinuate that the apology would be better served directed at him. Without hesitation the pair separated and the princess offered him a heartfelt emotional apology and he found himself bowing in acceptance. His mouth opened but he found no words readily available. His feelings told him that she was sincere but her harsh words still rang in his mind… _you will never be anything more than a forgery, a counterfeit of greatness…_ Expertly noticing the turmoil roiling within him, Kate redirected the room's attention back on herself.

"What has happened? Kevin has been told nothing of what has been going on…" The princess cast an acidic look at Treize who expertly excused himself of blame. He insisted that he had been worried about his guest's health and that he had been moments away from explaining everything when she had interrupted their meal. He again insisted that she and her retinue join them. The change in composure was as miraculous as it was sudden.

She had burst into the room with the power of a vengeful storm but as she took a seat next to Kate she transformed into a seemingly different person. Elegant and dignified, her beauty and composure threatened to outshine Kate's own radiating appearance. Despite the woman's alluring features, however, Kate remained the brightest star in the room. _They both know it too…_ the two women were smiling at each other and quietly talking amongst themselves but were interrupted when one of the princess's companions suddenly spoke with an air of mock formality.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce her royal highness Charlotte de Nassau, Princess of Luxembourg, Grand Duke William's daughter and heir to the Duchy of Luxembourg."

"May her grace and benevolence be known across the land and her wrath be feared by her enemies." The second companion ended her own words with a mock flourish and a pointed stare at Treize who bowed slightly.

"Jade, we will have to remind Treize's men that it is their privileged duty to announce me, not yours. And Hitomi, your jests are always appreciated but he deserved every moment of it and deserves so much more… but I do not wish to bore his wonderful and honored guests. I'm sure they are both well aware of exactly what type of a man he is." Smiling, perhaps far too pleasantly, Treize began to speak but stopped himself when it became clear that the princess hadn't finished. "Forgive me Colonel, we appear to have interrupted you, I'm sure you were just about to update our guests on current events." Kevin would have smiled at how the mighty and powerful 'Master' Treize fawned and bowed in the presence of the unpredictable Princess Charlotte if his news hadn't been so troubling.

* * *

Their 'ride' had been two bulky 'light' personnel transports that seemed straight out of a science fiction movie. The aircraft were dark gray and hardly seemed light but they had touched down outside of Harvard easily enough. Olivia and company had been rushed aboard the two craft and during the hustle she had lost track of Max and Chloe as they were ushered into a different craft. She had tried to protest but the soldiers weren't interested. Sirens could be heard in the distance and they clearly intended to be away before the authorities could arrive.

Once everyone had been strapped into their seats that lined either side of the craft's rear the rear door had been secured and her stomach had been left behind as the craft tore towards the sky. The soldiers managed the trip with impressive fortitude, some of them even appeared to be sleeping. Looking around she noticed that her companions were suffering just as much, if not more so, as she was.

Eventually the craft had levelled out once it had reached altitude and the ride had become much more comfortable. Not that anything about the experience was enjoyable, the craft had that minimalistic design that a military craft would have. The hard seats and their thick restraints dug into her. Olivia would have liked to speak to someone, she had so many questions, but conversation had seemed impossible. It was only towards the end of their thankfully short journey that she had noticed that some of the soldiers were conversing over bulky communications headsets that probably cancelled out most of the noise.

The landing was almost as bad as their takeoff had been, it was just as sudden as well. The craft had barely touched the ground and just as Olivia's stomach was settling itself the heavy metal door burst open and she was ushered out. Once the craft had emptied she saw Max and Chloe nearly get trampled as dozens of heavily armored and impressively armed soldiers scrambled aboard the two craft. These soldiers wore heavy body armor similar to the Treize Faction soldiers that she had fought but she had little time to inspect the finer details of their armor. In seconds both transports were fully loaded and as they were ushered away from the craft the two ships exploded into the air with such force that her ears were reminded of what it had been like to suffer the effects of the flashbangs.

All around her Olivia noticed other transports in various states of fueling, loading or unloading and hundreds of soldiers boarded their respective vehicles. As they were ushered out of what clearly was a hangar of some kind several more of the ships burst forth into the sky. The hangar had a single small opening in the roof that was big enough for at least two of the transports to pass through at a time with very little room to spare. This fact went seemingly unnoticed as she watched two of the bulky ships pass through the opening at the same time, their pilots clearly unbothered.

Once they had left the hangar Olivia did a quick headcount and discovered that everyone was present. Walter and Peter seemed to be taking in every detail of their surroundings while Astrid kept her eyes on Walter, seemingly ready for him to try to wander off. Kimberly didn't seem at all interested in her surroundings and kept her eyes on the floor, keenly aware of Olivia's stare. _She's been here before…_ Max and Chloe seemed at awe of their environment but they kept close together, she noticed Chloe tense every time soldiers rushed past them as if ready for a fight but no one paid them any attention.

Hans led the way deeper into the facility, the rest of the soldiers that had been with them had vanished without her noticing. They boarded a massive elevator that steadily descended for what felt like an eternity. Wondering just how far down underground they were going her worries were erased when the elevator shuddered to a stop and the heavy doors sprang open to reveal a uniformed man who smiled pleasantly at them.

"This is Major Elliot, he will be taking you from here." She noticed that Hans didn't offer the man a salute nor did the man expect one. The pleasant faced major wore a simple yet immaculately kept dark blue uniform that he wore well. He invited them warmly and they followed him through a short hallway that led towards a single, heavily armored door. Hans remained on the elevator and disappeared from sight as the doors closed behind them.

"Welcome, all of you, this is our 'last resort' bunker so to speak. Even if our base is bombarded from orbit you should be safe down here. There are refreshments available and personnel are inside to make sure that you have everything that you need and answer some of your questions. However, they are only authorized to tell you so much, so please hold your questions until I return once the others arrive."

"Others?" Major Elliot smiled apologetically at his vagueness and clasped his hands behind his back as he made ready to depart.

"My apologies, I believe you are familiar with them, Kevin Anderson and Kate Marsh are to be released from Treize's custody and shall soon join you here. I will return with a full briefing on the situation once they arrive."

* * *

Kevin had meant to take the time to talk to Kate as they made their way through gaudy hallways towards their awaiting transport but a few things kept him from this. The presence of Princess Charlotte and her never ending conversation with Kate was perhaps the most glaring obstacle. It wasn't just that he was worried about interrupting them, the princess had also made it very clear that she despised him in every way. To her he was dirt, a stain on Kate's life, and at the moment he certainly felt like it. Part of him wanted to be angry about it, he had been ordered to keep things from her after all. And the facts that he had kept from her were ludicrous at best. _Would she have believed me if I had told her that I was a clone and that I had mystical powers? The other facts would certainly have been easier to explain, I could have told her that I was working for a powerful military organization that was slowly 'taking over' Europe… but I didn't want her to worry… I guess._

Instead he had opted to tell her exactly what he was supposed to, exactly what he had been ordered to. He wanted to beg for her forgiveness and insist that it wasn't his fault, but it was. He should never have taken this 'job' in Luxembourg, he had never wanted these powers, nor the responsibility that came with them. He wanted a normal life and all at once he felt as if he finally understood the man that he was cloned from. The man had come back to Earth as a scared boy who just wanted a normal life and now he was the guardian of the planet and his small fleet was preparing to do battle against an alien threat that they seemingly stood no chance against.

And he was stuck down on the planet, being shepherded towards an area of safety should the worse happen. He could fight! For years he'd been training for this very moment! He had powers second to only one man and he had been studying military tactics and combat almost every day of his recent life. Why should he hide deep underground while others who were less capable than him fight?

"You're not cross with me, are you?" The princess's sudden question interrupted his thoughts, as he turned to face her he noticed Kate slowly shift her eyes away from his. She was dressed in her own clothes now, but the princess had insisted that she keep the dress, she insisted that Kate wore it better, she was probably right. As Kate avoided his gaze he felt even more miserable than he had before and any response he had been about to make was lost.

"Her highness asked you a question." One of the princess's two female companions growled from somewhere behind him, he didn't care which. And at the moment, it seemed, neither did the princess. She angrily waved away the comment and patiently waited for his response. The two uniformed guards who were carrying their belongings, the luggage that had meant to accompany them on their vacation, glanced nervously at one another but remained silent. Sighing heavily, Kevin stopped walking and turned to face the princess.

"No, your highness, I am not cross with you. You hate me, plain and simple, and I'm sure that you have your reasons for it but I don't really care to hear them. You judge me for things that I have done, fine, but you also judge me because I am not him." Stressing his last word, he paused for a moment as he saw the effects of his accusation. _I was right, she doesn't like me because I'm a clone of her precious grand admiral…_ Not wanting to give the young woman any time to recover he continued on. "I'm a clone, 'a forgery, a counterfeit of greatness.' Those weren't just your words though, I'm sure that everyone who knows him thinks the same way about me. I'm fucking sick of it, I just want to live my life but you people, you power hungry, self-obsessed, plotting bastards won't let me. Sure, it's my fault, I chose this life, I agreed to it, but I didn't agree to Kate being dragged into this bullshit. So what if the grand admiral and Treize have an argument about who controls the planet, leave us, but specifically her out of it! I don't give a damn if I'm his clone, or his apprentice, or what-the-fuck-ever, damn you people for involving us in this, damn you all!"

The princess's two companions seemed furious but held their tongues because she had yet to lower the hand that had stopped them from speaking in the first place. Her face was a myriad of emotions but she didn't seem the least bit angry concerning his words. She smiled, almost mockingly as she spoke after a short moment of awkward silence.

"Is that all?" _She's baiting me, fine, I'll bite, fuck it._

"No, that's not all. For years you people have been training me to fight, to command, to win even when it's impossible… and look, we're in luck! A seemingly impossible to win fight dawns on us, one that could decide the fate of the entire planet! So important in fact, that Treize and the grand admiral stopped their personal squabble to deal with it! But not me, I'm to be tucked away somewhere safe while everyone else does the fighting. I-." His next words were cut short and Kate surprised everyone when she suddenly turned on him and slapped him in the face, hard.

"Don't you dare! Don't you dare go and fight!" Her eyes glistened with emotion as she glared at him with a mixture of fury and sadness. One look at her broke his heart and chased away his anger. She knew that it was hopeless, she knew that he would go if given the opportunity, she knew that she couldn't stop him, but she was trying anyway.

"Kate… he must…" The princess's soft tone was almost musical, she reached out to Kate as if to calm her but Kate shrugged her off and drew closer to him.

"No! You must not! I don't care that you lied about all of those things… I mean I do… but I can see why you kept them from me… you had to… but you're already up there right? So why must you go as well?" He could tell that she was still angry with him, but at the moment she was determined to keep him by her side. Honestly, that's all he had ever wanted in life but if there was any chance of victory, he had to go. If he did not fight and the battle was lost… if something happened to Kate that he could have prevented… he had to go. Suddenly, words that a strange man had once said came back to him.

"There will come a time when one of me won't be enough…"

* * *

"Captain Stillwell, begin an immediate evacuation of the _Hydra._ Keep all essential crew for jump operations, basic maneuvering, and of course the repair teams until everyone else is off the ship." Captain Stillwell's hologram stared at his admiral, dumbfounded for a moment and unable to speak. He soon found his voice but his words were unsteady, his confusion readily apparent.

"But… sir… we won the battle, didn't we? My crew just needs… time… to effect repairs on the ship…" Kevin quickly cut the man off, perhaps harsher than he had needed to.

"Captain we don't have time! Get your crew off that damned ship, now!" As if on que the sensors officer spoke up, and reported exactly what Kevin had been fearing. The actions of his enemy had confounded him but once he had pondered the situation for a moment he realized it for what it was, a trap.

"Contacts! Multiple contacts! One-hundred plus contacts jumping in!" The sensors officer was doing an admirable job keeping his voice calm but Kevin could sense his nervousness nonetheless.

"Captain, we will cover you for as long as we can but we have to get your crew off of that ship, if the hyperdrive isn't fixed in time, scuttle it, understood?" Captain Stillwell paled at the prospects of abandoning his ship but it wasn't his call, the call had been made.

"Yes sir, my apologies, sir." The Captain's likeness disappeared as the communication was broken, Kevin was surprised to find Natasi above and beside him, leaning down into his suite.

"Shall I call for reinforcements?" Her voice was low and steady, her green eyes solid and dark. It wasn't fear that had cast its ugly shadow on her, or perhaps it might be? This might be the first time she had witnessed him being out-maneuvered. Their enemy had set a trap and he had fallen for it. Worse, he had committed his best ship.

"We can't. Those ships aren't part of the main fleet, if we take any of our remaining forces away from Earth they might attack it… if they haven't already." Seeking to confirm another suspicion he checked one of his tactical displays. "Odd, they have stopped jamming us… they want us to call for help...we most definitely won't oblige them then."

"Your orders, sir?" The enemy carriers were still reeling from the attack and it seemed that they wouldn't be joining the fight. The new enemy force consisted almost exclusively of battlecruisers and a single, massive, frightfully armed battleship. With luck, it was almost perfectly aligned to their port and was bearing straight down on them.

"Roll out the guns Admiral, prepare the main gun." Natasi showed her teeth and flashed him a predatory smile. Not a single trace of the worries that may have plagued her remained, she was ready to fight. Her strong and near terrifying voice carried across the bridge and every crewman set about their duties with renewed vigor in its wake.

"Full power to weapons! Prepare to fire the main gun! Target that big ugly bastard in the center of their fleet, quarter charge!"

"Ma'am, since the target is lacking shields a lesser charge should be sufficient." It took guts and balls to correct a superior like Admiral Natasi Daala and you had to be damned sure of yourself to do it. But perhaps that's why she was the way she was.

"I defer to your judgment then, but be sure that all that's left is space dust Lieutenant!"

"Aye, aye ma'am, nothing but space dust!"

"Let's show these bastards what the crew of the Night Hammer can do!" The bridge crew let out a ragged cheer as they went about their duties but it quickly died down as Natasi continued to bellow out orders. "Helm, align to target, weapons, standby to fire!"

"All squadrons form up and standby for orders, the skies are clear for the moment but stay frosty." Switching his communications channel to the Victory-Class Star Destroyers he quickly continued speaking. "Captain Reinhardt, continue providing support for the Hydra, once the evacuation is complete signal us and get the hell out of here. Until then, hold fast."

The situation could have been better. They were massively outnumbered, one of his ships was being prepared to be abandoned and his other three ships on the field were still recovering from the last fight. At the moment they certainly had superiority in strike craft but that was most certainly subject to change if the enemy carriers came back into the fight as he expected them to. But he had the _Night Hammer_ and the enemy was about to get a taste of her main gun, the prototype death star laser.

Long ago, his sudden friendship with Admiral Natasi Daala had born unexpected fruit. She had formerly been the commander of the garrison known as the Maw Installation. This secret installation had been hidden away between several black holes with only one known safe route through the navigational nightmare. Natasi had provided him with this route after they had joined forces and the secrets of the illusive Maw Installation had become his. All of the Empire's superweapons had been designed there but he hadn't been interested in world ending devices nor super viruses.

However, the prototype laser for the death star, an ill named space station the size of a small moon that had the power to destroy a planet in a single shot, he had found very interesting. Embedded in the front sections of the _Night Hammer_ the weapon would never be provided with enough power to destroy a planet. An unshielded ship of roughly equal size to a Star Destroyer should be no problem, even with a shot at less than a quarter of its full power.

"Slipspace rupture!" He couldn't believe his ears. Somehow, he could have sworn that one of the watch standers had spoken words that sounded an awful lot like 'slipspace rupture,' but he must have been mistaken. "We've got a splispace rupture!" And just like that, a terrible situation had just gotten a whole lot better.

* * *

"What the hell is everyone so damned happy about?" A dozen junior officers had been sent down to make sure that their 'guests' were getting everything that they needed. Food, drink, necessary furniture, etc. The bunker, or whatever it was, had room enough for hundreds and had more rooms than Chloe cared to explore at the moment. Sleeping quarters, restrooms, kitchens, recreational areas, a fully stocked armory, and so much more. The center room, where everyone was gathered at the moment and where they were encouraged to spend most of their time was perhaps the most interesting. The room had plenty of ridiculously high-tech computer equipment that was mostly offline but several of the officers had brought up the centermost piece of tech online.

A massive tactical projector that they immediately began to show off by projecting insanely rendered three dimensional images of the Earth and the fleet that stood guard above it, dominated the center of the room. She was still trying to wrap her head around that part, there was a fleet of spaceships orbiting above the earth, ready to defend it from… something. After some more fiddling and what seemed like an accident from one of the inexperienced officers the display had shifted to an intense battle. One of the officers, the youngest looking of the group, had cheered with joy and explained that they must have found some old combat footage.

The most senior of the group had quickly clipped the youth on the ear and harshly explained that what they were seeing was live and that their side was losing, badly. Hearing this Chloe quickly assumed that the four triangular shaped ships and the single massive arrowhead shaped ship highlighted in green were the good guys and that the ships surrounding them, highlighted in red were the bad guys. Swallowing hard she had pulled Max closer towards her, there were a lot more bad guys.

"That's the Night Hammer, isn't it?" One of the officers had asked, pointing at the massive arrowhead shaped ship that dwarfed everything else. _Night Hammer? That's a really stupid name… if that was my ship I'd name it something way cooler._ Chloe's thoughts had echoed in her head as she pondered a more appropriate name for such a massive ship but they had become very rudely interrupted when all of the officers began to cheer, loudly.

Starting as a trickle at first, the cheering started with the obviously more experienced officers and quickly infected the younger ones when they slowly realized what had happened. After a quick inspection of the holographic projection she noticed that a single ship had appeared seemingly out of nowhere and all sorts of flashing alerts were projecting around the new arrival. The ship, unlike the rest, was a work of beauty. It wasn't bulbous or made up of straight lines but was curvy and looked more like a majestic sea-creature of some kind than a spaceship. The ship was, if the holographic representation of it was to be believed, a hue of deep purple. _So it's pretty, but it's hardly bigger than anything else and its certainly no match for the big one… so why is everyone so damned happy?_

"Seriously what the hell, it's just one ship?" Her words startled the rejoicing officers into a stunned silence. But as she looked around it seemed to her that she had voiced what all of her companions were thinking so she held her ground, unabated by the stares she was receiving. Finally, the most senior of the officers spoke up, his voice was steady and controlled, he spoke to her like an instructor explaining something obvious to an unruly student.

"That, young lady, is a Sangheili Cruiser…" _Fuck off dude, what the hell should I know about spaceships. Call me young lady again and see what happens…_ But before the condescending man had the chance one of the younger officers joined in.

"A Sangheili Cruiser! I bet it could take out the Night Hammer by itself!" A fierce argument erupted between the officers and it seemed that both sides of the dispute were evenly matched. Chloe found herself in a state of confusion, however, and she slowly turned to face Max who looked equally confused.

"How the hell could that ship take on something that big and hope to win?" Max shrugged in response but kept her eyes glued to the projection, she was certainly interested in finding out. Peter leaned forward from where he stood behind her and answered for her.

"Something tells me that we are about to find out, should be quite something the way the others are acting. Once the show is over though… maybe we should ask what the hell a Sangheili is, Walter thinks they are aliens but I don't know… what do you girls think?"

 _Aliens…_ a lot of strange things had happened today, apparently a lot of strange things had happened to her in the past… or maybe an alternate reality. She was still trying to wrap her head around everything but right now she and Max were supposedly safe and that's all that mattered. Except Peter and Walter were now talking about aliens and she and Max still hadn't had any time to talk about what had happened inside Max's mind. She could lead Max away from the others into another room and bring it up or throw her down onto the nearest bed and forget everything else. Later perhaps, right now she was very interested in what the pretty ship could do.

* * *

"Leader, we have exited slipspace. We seem to have arrived just in time to join the Honored Arbiter in glorious battle against a numerically superior force. The crew stands ready for your orders." Ship-Master Ryvu 'Tusamai casually waved off his subordinate and studied the sensor data. The unknown enemy ships almost made him laugh, it would be a mercy killing doing battle with their pathetic forces. _Why build so many ships of such inferior qualities?_ Shaking his head, he focused his attention on the Arbiter's flagship. Thankfully, the Arbiter's small fleet used energy weapons and had shields, it would be embarrassing to see such a holy and divine figure on anything less.

The ships were uninspired and ugly, he would never understand human engineering. His people should rule the stars but it had been the cruel hands of fate that had doomed them to their current situation. His people, the Sangheili, had once been part of a glorious Covenant made up of several races and their power had been unmatched across the stars. That was until the prophets had betrayed his people and the Great Schism had begun.

His people had been cast aside by the leaders of the Covenant and in their place the mangey Jiralhanae had risen. At first it had merely been a shakeup of the status quo, the Sangheili had always been second to the prophets but the slaughter of the Sangheili Council had changed everything. Proud warriors, the Sangheili had fought back and soon the once great Covenant was split in two as races joined both sides. Surprisingly, the miniature Unggoy, no strangers to rebellion themselves, had joined their Sangheili brothers. It was surprising because no race in the Covenant treated the Unggoy kindly, certainly not his people. Perhaps they had treated them slightly better than the other races but a new relationship between the two races was formed. Not surprisingly, the mighty and proud Mgalekgolo had also joined their side and together the three races struggled against their enemies.

The Jiralhanae, the hairy brutes, and the traitorous prophets, the San'shyuum, were joined by the devious and cunning Kig-yar. Initially the war had gone badly for his side but after several brilliant counter-attacks a bloody stale-mate had become the norm. For years neither side was able to gain an upper hand on the other and millions perished. It was during this dark time that the Arbiter had first appeared, just as the prophets had said he would.

Ryvu wasn't a religious being, but he had always believed in the words of the prophets. It was taught that in times of great crisis an arbiter would be chosen and he would lead the Covenant to salvation. Once the war had broken out he had dismissed the prophets for traitors and their words as lies, but an arbiter had been chosen, and it would be their undoing.

At some point during the war the enemy had come into first contact with humans and the experience had gone badly for the feeble creatures. However, the prophets had taken a captive that had interested them greatly. He was a small and pathetic looking creature, one of their young no doubt but he had possessed strange powers. Thinking that they could contain this creature the prophets had paraded him before them, hoping to unlock the secrets of his abilities.

The tale was now legendary amongst his people and what once had been a mere boy from a pathetic race became the Arbiter. In their time of great need the Arbiter rose up and slaughtered the seven prophets and left their enemy leaderless. Quick to gain advantage the Sangheili and their allies had struck and several commando teams had been sent to aid and extract the Arbiter. Those who saw him in combat swore oaths to the creature and told stories of his exceptional qualities and his fantastical abilities.

Ryvu had never been in the presence of the Honored Arbiter but after that victory the war had been massively swung in their favor. A new precedent had been formed as well, should the Arbiter call, the Sangheili would answer. Fortune had fallen on him and his crew, they were the first to receive the call. Even though their ship had been hunting the Jiralhane in far off sectors they had abandoned their duties the second they had received the call. The Honored Arbiter had called, they would answer.

The Honored Arbiter unfortunately continued to speak the human tongue so translation programs had been added to every ship, every suit of war, every Sangheili would be able to hear his words, every one of his race would be able to answer the call. Shockingly, even though the backwards language was quite difficult for his species to properly speak, many tried and succeeded with varying degrees of success. Not being a religious or zealous being Ryvu had laughed at the old fools. But about a year ago when his ship had been given the honor of hunting close to the Arbiter's territory he and his crew had feverishly begun to practice their 'Galactic Basic'. Even the lazy and sometimes insolent Unggoy devoted themselves to the task, just in case they were one day honored with the presence of the Arbiter.

The Arbiter's enemies were upon them and battle was imminent. Ryvu found himself nervous, and a quick glance around the command deck showed that his crew was nervous too. He knew that his crew did not fear battle, they had been hunting the Jiralhane together for a long time and they were a fearsome enemy, far more fearsome than the creatures that they would do battle with this day. The nervousness came from the Arbiter, his crew knew that in a few moments he would be making contact, they knew he would try his basic without the aid of the translation systems, they knew that he might embarrass them, but he had to try.

"Honored Arbiter, I am Ship-Master Ryvu 'Tusamai of the Shadow of Intent, are you in need of… assistance?" Looking to his second he was given an encouraging nod, he had used the right word. Assistance, it meant help, but it sounded smarter. The human language was tricky and had been designed with clever traps so that different social classes would know where you stood. There were smart words like 'Assistance' and simple words like 'help' that meant the same thing. The trick was, sorting out the smart words from the simple ones, an infuriating task.

"Honored Ship-Master, you are a sight for sore eyes that's for sure, we are certainly happy to see you, your assistance would be greatly appreciated." The Arbiter's hologram had appeared before him and he noticed immediately that the human looked nothing like the legends said he would. He looked like every other human, plain and ordinary, weak, dressed in feeble garments. But the scar was there, the scar he had received doing glorious battle with the now slain prophets, it was him.

"Why are his eyes sore? And why does he praise me so… Honored Ship-Master?" Ryvu quietly asked his second. The Arbiter was testing him, no doubt. He spoke half in riddles and used a combination of smart and simple words as if to trick him, but he would not be fooled, _but why were his eyes sore?_

"No doubt the sight of so many infidels brings him great pain, leader, he wishes us to attack at once! He is honoring you!" The response made sense and the rest of his crew growled approvingly. Turning back to the Arbiter he prepared his response.

"Honored Arbiter, we will cleanse the infidels with holy fire… we are honored to do battle at your side!" His crew growled approvingly at this as they returned to their stations, they had infidels to cleanse. During the conversation it appeared that seven of the enemy ships had broken off to engage them, _the fools, they will need more than that to stop us!_

* * *

Shaking his head Kevin wondered why the Sangheili were always so passionate about religion. Their own religious leaders had betrayed them and yet they still clung to it feverishly. He had never met a non-fanatical Sangheili, but that was okay. He was their 'Honored Arbiter' after all. Their false prophets had captured him and he had killed them, easily, and then he had fought off their guards, which had not been so easy.

The Jiralhanae, or 'Brutes' as he liked to call them were massive creatures. Taller than even the Sangheili who stood several heads taller than any human he had ever met. The brutes were hairy, muscled, angry, violent creatures. Perhaps they weren't always like that, but he had never met one that wasn't trying to kill him. However, unlike the Sangheili, who were masters of science and technology, the brutes were simpler creatures that used simpler tech, especially once they were robbed of the Sangheili's technology once the civil-war had gone on for years.

This hadn't mattered much during the war though, numbers count for a lot and the brutes had those in spades. He had found this out first hand once he had killed their prophets, he had barely made it out alive of that encounter and had fully expected to die. But after several days of fighting and being chased through the enemy stronghold, just as the situation had turned especially grim, the Sangheili had arrived.

He hadn't seen them at first, but in his defense, that's because their warriors had the technology to cloak themselves, just like in that movie Predator. Initially, he had just watched in awe as several of his hairy enemies, seething with anger, cried out in surprise as glowing blue blades of energy tore through them. Exhausted from his ordeal he nonetheless had charged into the fray, his lightsaber in hand.

Once the battle had been over and the last of his enemies slain, he became daunted when his saviors had materialized out of thin air and appeared before him. He had been young then, but even if he had been fully grown they still would have towered over him. The mighty Sangheili were tall, massively tall, usually at least eight feet in height, but they were mostly humanoid. They had two legs, two arms, some digits here and there, thin waists, broad chests and shoulders but it was their heads that stood out. In place of mouths they had twin mandibles that opened and closed when they spoke. A horrid sight to behold, surely, but you grew used to it.

He had never met a Sangheili that wasn't fully armored and clearly a warrior of merit. Perhaps, due to his holy position as their Arbiter he would only ever meet their upper echelon of leaders, this Ship-Master he had just spoken with was, if he understood their class system, the lowest ranking member of their species he had ever spoken with. The soldiers that had rescued him many years ago didn't count, they had spoken their language at him and he had responded with his own, which had seemingly offended them greatly. Not that their language was especially pleasing to listen to either, at times it could be almost comical.

Still, they had adapted their translation software rather quickly and he soon realized exactly how they perceived him. He had tried, of course, to explain to them that he wasn't what they thought, that there must be some mistake but his words had been in vain. He was their Honored Arbiter, he had killed their false prophets and he had led them to victory. That was the turning point of their bloody civil-war and they were forever grateful. Whenever he needed assistance it mattered not how far away the Sangheili were, they always arrived first. Sometimes one or two at a time, but as the word spread, as the call went out that their Arbiter needed them, more would come.

Once, not so long ago an entire Sangheili fleet had abandoned an attack on a Jiralhanae world and came to his aid. Overwhelmed by the dedication of his allies he quite unnecessarily pledged his support to them in their recently abandoned attack. His ships had hardly been needed in the fight, but his fleet's appearance on the field had apparently sent the enemy into a panicked frenzy. The Sangheili were fanatical warriors, terrifying in battle but their Arbiter had been by their side and their attack had been all the more brutal.

Glad to have them as allies instead of enemies he noticed that a number of enemy ships had been diverted to deal with their sudden appearance.

"Seven against one… poor bastards…" Natasi had noticed too.

"Admiral, we mustn't allow our Sangheili brothers to have all the fun, you may fire when ready." She smiled like a demon as she gave the order to fire. The lights on the bridge momentarily darkened as the prototype death star laser fired, it's bright green beam shot towards the enemy battleship. There was a sudden and brilliant explosion as the enemy ship was torn apart, the bridge viewports automatically dimmed as the light from the blast reached the ship. The crew cheered as three of the enemy ships that had been sent to attack the Sangheili Cruiser met similar fates.

The enemy was not yet in range of their turbolaser batteries but they soon would be, but not soon enough. Their attack needed to be swift and decisive before they could dispatch the necessary forces to contend with the Sangheili Cruiser, they would soon realize just how dangerous it was.

"Helm, full ahead!" He then turned back towards his tactical displays, the evacuation of the _Hydra_ was underway. With the help of the Sangheili they might just be able to pull this off before things got worse.


	7. Chapter 7: Leviathan

**Chapter 7: Leviathan**

The walk towards the awaiting transport was completed in dreadful silence. Kate was completely resigned to what must come to pass. Kevin would go into space, he would fight. He would do what he was trained to do, he would lead others into battle, he would protect the Earth from her enemies.

 _What the hell am I going to do…? I can shout and scream all I want but how the hell am I going to get into space… if the admiral catches wind of my plans he will have me sent back to Earth bound and gagged in no time._ The princess, it seemed, had already thought of this, she had planned everything in advance.

Awaiting the somber party in the small private hangar were two identical military transports. Kevin recognized them as V3-Albatross, the standard 'light' troop carriers of the Treize Faction military. Depending on the situation, these transports could carry varying amounts of personnel but they usually carried at least a dozen fully armed soldiers. Slowly, secretly, so the rest of the world wouldn't notice, Treize was beefing up his forces with technology reverse engineered from the grand admiral's fleet. These aircraft utilized repulsor technology and advanced engines that permitted them to achieve atmospheric flight and transition into limited space-flight. One of these craft would take Kate to safety, the other would bring him into space.

It was clear which craft was meant for him. His transport had a dozen Treize Faction Navy personnel lined up next to it, standing at attention in the presence of two lavishly decorated officers. The second craft seemed to only have a crew of five tense soldiers, who were eyeing Kevin and Kate expectantly. These men were here to retrieve them from Treize, they had to be some of the grand admiral's personal soldiers, they looked like killers. Kate stopped and looked at the two craft in a moment of confusion, but as she spun around to face him it was obvious from her grave expression that she knew all too well what was about to happen.

"You're leaving now… aren't you?" Her shoulders were stiff, her hazel eyes looked at him as if he was already lost, already a casualty of the battle that was to come.

"It would… seem so…" He turned to the princess, seeking confirmation, he received a slight nod. As he turned to face Kate once more he felt as if all the light in the universe had been snuffed out. The love of his life wore a brave face but it was obvious that her world was crumbling. Despite the inner turmoil that plagued her, she turned towards the princess and her companions and managed a few soft words.

"A moment alone, please…" Immediately Princess Charlotte snapped her fingers and she and her two companions swiftly made their way towards the still awaiting Treize Faction personnel, causing them to stand even straighter.

One of the grim-faced men that had been sent to retrieve them began to make his way over towards them, but he stopped in his tracks when one of his companions called him back. The man sheepishly retreated back towards his comrades, suddenly keenly aware what he had almost interrupted. Kevin and Kate now stood alone, and he felt as if all eyes were on them even though it certainly seemed as if everyone was doing their best to find interest in anything but them. Not really knowing how to break the painful silence that existed between them, he cowardly avoided the issue at hand. Keenly aware of Kate's pained expression, he slowly moved closer to her and spoke in a hushed voice.

"I wasn't aware that you were such good friends with the princess… honestly I wasn't even aware that we had a princess… or even a Grand Duke of Luxembourg…" Of course, he had known, and Kate knew that he knew, but he was stumbling over his words and trying to mask his uneasiness with self-depreciating humor. His efforts were awarded and a thin, yet pained, smile crept onto Kate's face.

"They… kept you sedated so that you… wouldn't cause them trouble… she broke me out of the room that they locked me away in. Treize… he protested of course… but she ignored him and did her best to make me feel welcomed… even though I was still a prisoner. She was so nice, she gave me clothes, refused to leave me whenever Treize came to talk, she even… prayed with me and gave me strength when I needed it most." Kate's right hand unconsciously crept towards her neckline and touched her golden cross as she spoke, as if feeding off of its strength. He could tell that she was struggling to maintain her composure, but it seemed that talking around the issue at hand was helping so he continued.

"She seems… nice…" Kate nodded slowly in response to his careful words but as she did so something dawned on him. "She's very clever… she treated me like crap so that I would get all riled up… she wanted me to get in her face about-." He cut his words short but it was too late, Kate knew exactly where he had been going and from the knowing look on her face, it seemed that she knew all too well how he had been maneuvered by the princess.

"She wants you to fight… everyone who knows who you are wants you to fight. It doesn't matter that I don't, it doesn't matter that the admiral doesn't… it's not fair…" Her words broke off as she fought back tears and as he instinctively reached out to her she threw herself into his arms. Her arms ensnared him in a vice-grip as she buried her face into his chest. Her words were muffled, broken by sobs but her voice was strong, wavering only slightly.

"Why? Why can't you just stay with me?" Before he could even begin to work his mouth and form a response, she exhumed herself from his chest, her eyes still wet with tears but her face unusually steady for someone who was so wrought with grief. He felt as if he had imagined her crying a few seconds ago because aside from the wetness in her eyes he detected no evidence of such. "I know, I know… you've trained for this and you have… abilities… and you're… you… even if you were as plain and simple as everyone else you would still want to go… but why though? Can you at least tell me that?"

"Kate… if I don't go… and something happens to you-." She shook her head adamantly and cut him off, clearly refusing to accept his response.

"But what if something happens to _you_? What about _me_?" He was at a loss for words but she clearly didn't expect an answer. She knew what was going to happen, knew that she had little control over the situation, she knew that he would go because he felt that he had to, she knew that he felt that he had no choice. They stood together for several moments without speaking, holding each other tightly, looking into each other's eyes. Time seemingly froze for that moment and Kevin felt an eerie sensation of déjà vu. For a few moments he panicked, his mind racing, _does Max have her powers back? Did time just freeze?_

Luckily, the odd sensation passed and he chalked it up to mild paranoia and thankfully Kate hadn't noticed his momentary lapse into insanity. She was seemingly working up the courage to ask something but either due to his powers or because he knew her too well, he answered her question before she could ask it.

"Kate… there is something else that I never told you… but it's complicated and it would take me an eternity to explain. Trust me when I say this but you can't tell anyone about this, no one will believe you anyway but the right words to the wrong people… some of these people…" Kate nodded and her face grew deadly serious as she prepared herself for the worst, but as he spoke her expression softened and she seemingly exhaled in relief.

"Max… used to be able to rewind time." Baffled by her muted reaction, he stared at her, struggling to speak. "I mean it Kate! She used to be able to control time and for some reason I was immune to her powers so I kept my memories of everything that happened, crazy shit happened, you wouldn't believe-." Calmly, she hushed him to silence by placing a finger over his mouth, either because his voice was growing too loud or because she simply didn't care at the moment.

"I believe you… I believe you, relax, I'm just glad… that it's not more dreadful stuff about you. I'm already madly in love with a clone who has magical powers and has secretly been leading a double life for years… I don't know if I could take much more… it's okay… I'm sorry… I'm sure that this is all… hard for you too."

"Madly in love with me?" Still confounded by the almost casual way that she spoke about everything he said, he slowly and carefully eased out his words. She smiled warmly at him and the wetness that had been welling up in her eyes broke into tears.

"Of course, silly, why else would I not want you to leave… don't worry I won't talk to anyone about what you just told me… but you and I are going to have a really long talk about everything when you come back to me." She hadn't said 'if' she had said 'when'. Her words were firm and sharp, no argument was to be accepted. He would come back to her, plain and simple. However, even though he knew that he shouldn't say anything to contradict her, he found himself doing so regardless of her warnings.

"Kate… if I don't come back…" She shouted him down before he could get out another word.

"You will! This won't be like your Sabaton songs! This isn't going to be your last stand! You will come back! You've been trained remember? You have powers, I saw them! You'll beat them and you'll… you'll come back to me…" As she shouted, her words slowly lost their power and in the end her voice softened and grew quiet, scarcely above a whisper. As her words became less and less audible he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the princess was slowly approaching them, followed closely by the two Treize Faction officers. Taking a moment to inspect their uniforms it became immediately clear to him that both men were generals, and not just any generals either.

General Dubois, the leader of the Treize Faction's forces from France, was of middle age and his graying black hair was mostly tucked underneath a plain black beret. His features were stern, his simple black uniform was nonetheless lavishly covered with medals. Walking to his left, was his German counterpart, General Vollmer, a massive brute of a man. His shoulders were broad and his near perfect physical condition was easily apparent underneath his own black, equally adorned, uniform. His short white hair was oddly unkempt, making the man seem much younger in spite of his short, well-trimmed mustache. Kevin had never met either man, but he recognized them, and was appalled that he hadn't noticed them for who they were earlier. Equally appalling, these two men were technically subordinates to the likes of 'Master' Treize Kushrenada, even though he was of a technically inferior rank

Feeling Kevin tense Kate broke away from him and furiously made efforts to compose herself. Her heroic labors were wasted however, the two men hardly noticed her presence and had their eyes locked on him. Just ahead and between the two generals stood the princess, and in her hands, she held a small box that was somehow lavish and mundane all at once. Without a word, she unceremoniously opened the box. Almost forcing it into his hands, seemingly afraid that he wouldn't accept its contents, she spoke in an oddly formal tone.

"Congratulations, Commander Anderson." As her words washed over him the two generals behind her stiffened unhappily. He wordlessly accepted the box, and as he peered inside he discovered adornments matching his new rank, _I think I skipped a few…_ Shocked and bewildered, he would have mentioned that he had never officially been given a rank since he had never officially been part of the Treize Faction, but he couldn't find his voice.

The two generals unceremoniously excused themselves without so much as a word as the princess quickly dismissed them. As the two men departed, her two female companions were at her side once more. The princess explained that General Dubois was Jade's father and General Vollmer was Hitomi's father and the odd scene began to make more sense. The two men had only been present because they had been called for. The princess, lacking any official authority in military matters, had needed them to be present and acknowledge his swearing in, so to speak. It didn't matter that they were military and he had just been assigned a naval rank, it had happened and apparently it was official. _The woman gets what she wants, she had this all planned out from the start… she wanted me to fight and here I am… Commander Anderson… Commander…_

Kevin's thoughts trailed off as he noticed that their luggage was being loaded onto the transport that would take Kate away to safety. The five soldiers around the transport were all looking at him uncertainly now, as if unsure of what to do. But they reacted instantly as he called out to them, his voice crisp and demanding.

"You there, who commands your unit?" The man who had tried to approach them earlier immediately blanched at his tone and folded his arms across his chest.

"I do… commander." Three of the soldiers at his back chuckled at the way the man said 'commander' but went silent when the fifth soldier among them cast her cold disapproving eyes on them.

"And you are?" The question seemed to irritate the man, but after a few moments of hesitation he responded.

"Sergeant Sebastian Cote, sir." Sergeant Cote was calm and confident and stood out from the rest of his men due to his unshaven, yet neatly trimmed, facial hair. "And before you ask, no, we don't take orders from you, we're the admiral's men, not yours. Just cause you look like him doesn't mean we have to take shit from you." Before the princess or Kate could react to the man's words Kevin quickly marched right up to the man until the two were face to face, mere inches apart. The man hadn't flinched, hadn't moved, hadn't seemed interested at all, he had just watch him come and waited for him to speak. Kevin spoke, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"So long as you get Kate to where she needs to be safe and sound, I don't care what you do." His tone turned hard and he infused his words with as much power as he could, "but if anything happens to her, anything at all, I will hold you personally responsible." Something changed in the defiant man's eyes, for a moment he sensed the man's fear, but the feeling disappeared just as quickly as it had materialized.

"Don't you worry, we'll get your lady-friend bunkered up safe and sound. You know he's going to be mighty pissed when he finds out that you're not bunkered up with her… but hey, you outrank me so… fuck it, eh?" The man's eyes flicked towards Kate and the princess, his face sheepish for a moment. "Pardon my French, ladies. Whenever you are ready we're all set to ship out." With those words barely out of his mouth he turned around without so much as a second look at him.

Unperturbed Kevin turned back towards Kate and he felt his heart sink, they were quickly running out of time, and he had no idea how he was going to say goodbye to her. He didn't even know where he was going or what he was going to do when he got there. He needed more time, he needed more time alone with Kate. Not so long ago, even though it felt like an eternity, he had been looking forward to his impossibly long vacation with his fiancé. Now, in stark contrast to that distant dream, he had only moments when he needed an eternity. There was still so much to say, but as both of the transports began to spool up their engines words became impossible as the noise in the small hangar intensified.

She moved to him, and he moved to her and for a few moments they were one and the world was perfect again. But the feeling faded as they slowly drew apart, he felt his resolve buckle. Kate kissed him. He kissed her. They kissed each other like they were never going to see each other ever again. A myriad of emotions welled up inside of him as they drew apart but he willed them away, pushed them aside, shoved them deep within his chest. He had to be strong. A vast and numerous enemy was threatening his planet, was threatening Kate, and he was going to stop them. Commander Anderson was going to battle amongst the stars. Boarding his transport, he strapped himself in between two other crewmen. He wondered where they were headed, he had never bothered to ask.

* * *

"Holy shit! No way! Amazeballs!" The big arrowhead shaped ship had just completely annihilated the biggest enemy ship in a single shot. One second it was there, the next it was gone, but Chloe was far more excited about the pretty little purple ship. Seven of the enemy ships had maneuvered to intercept it and in a few seconds three of them had simple disappeared. The remaining four ships returned fire with an impressive volley of firepower, but the purple ship was undeterred and seemingly unharmed. In the time it took for the much larger ship to destroy a second ship, again with a single shot, the purple ship had entirely defeated its opponents and was maneuvering towards the remainder of the enemy fleet.

"Does that big ship only have one gun, what gives?" The massive arrowhead shaped ship was slowly moving towards the enemy fleet and away from the smaller triangular shaped ships, _why weren't they fighting too?_

"It does, just wait until the Night Hammer gets in range, girlie." _Call me girlie one more time and see what happens, hell, you look younger than I am kid._ Chloe felt Max shift uncomfortably at the young officers' words but she kept a firm grip on her all the same. Max's precautions were quite unnecessary though, Chloe was content to cast the fresh-faced youth a stern glare and he quickly broke eye contact. Smiling to herself she focused on the four identical ships that were not moving towards the fight and she noticed that small, barely visible green blips were quickly moving between them. Three of the ships had positioned themselves between the fourth ship and the advancing enemy fleet.

"Is something wrong with that ship, what's going on over there?" The most senior of the officers frowned at her words and input a few commands and he quickly read through the information that appeared on his side of the projection.

"The Hydra seems to have taken damage… a number of hull breaches… her engines are barely operational… her hyperdrive is down… Christ their abandoning her…" All of the previous enthusiasm that had infected the room was sucked out immediately. The mood was in such a foul state that when the _Night Hammer_ destroyed a third enemy ship no one seemed to care. When Max's soft voice broke the silence Chloe nearly jumped.

"What are all those smaller green dots?" Blinking in surprised Chloe was immediately shocked with herself, _how did I not see those before? There are hundreds of them! Leave it to Max to pay attention to every detail._

"Those are the Night Hammer's strike craft… the admiral is probably holding them back to protect the Hydra…" The most senior of the officers responded, but the words were barely out of the man's mouth when several things happened all at once. Chloe could barely keep track of all of the sudden activity. The Night Hammer opened fire with the rest of her guns, lots and lots of guns. Thousands of streaks of green energy sprang forth, causing the enemy fleet to scatter.

The enemy fleet broke off into three seemingly evenly numbered groups, _they probably had that maneuver planned out, they aren't scattering at all!_ One third of them broke off to engage the purple ship and it immediately broke off and began to run while another group charged straight at the _Night Hammer_. The last group of enemy ships twisted away from the fight, and at first Chloe was confused, were they running away? But it soon became clear to the most senior of the officers. "They're going for the Hydra _…"_

The man's face turned grim as it became even more certain that this is exactly what the enemy intended. The third enemy fleet, once their wide maneuvers were finished, began to accelerate towards the Hydra. Unfortunately for them, he had also been right about the Night Hammer's fighter squadrons. All at once a swarm of green dots pounced on the flanks of the larger ships. There were hundreds upon hundreds of them, maybe even a thousand, but they were so small! _Will they be able to stop the enemy in time, those triangular shaped ships are outnumbered like ten to one!_

"Look, look!" One of the younger officers chanted, excitedly pointed towards the _Night Hammer._

"I see it, calm down Jackson!" Chloe saw it too; the _Night Hammer_ was tilting on its axis. Most of her weaponry seemed to be arrayed along its flanks and on top of the ship. The enemy preparing to attack the _Hydra_ and her guardians now found themselves being pummeled by the larger ship. The three ships guarding the _Hydra_ fired as well and just when Chloe thought she had a handle on what was going on she blinked in confusion as the purple ship suddenly appeared in the midst of the third enemy fleet.

* * *

Initially Ryvu had balked at the arbiter's plan, _run away from these pathetic creatures? Disgraceful!_ He had turned to his second who seemed just as shocked and was entirely speechless. However, when the arbiter had further explained the plan, Ryvu had smiled, the arbiter was cunning.

The heretics had dispatched a third of their forces to attack them, _the fools should have done that from the beginning,_ and Ryvu and his crew had led them far away from the ongoing battle. At the arbiter's request, they had engaged their slipspace drive, and now they were amongst the enemy battlegroup that was attacking the arbiter's lesser ships. _How did the arbiter put it? 'A wolf amongst sheep'?_ Ryvu had had his second investigate his words for clarification.

"Leader, the Honored Arbiter praises us, the wolf is a predatory animal and sheep are… food… or… prey? The texts are not clear… but it is high praise to be called a wolf, most certainly!"

"We are wolves!" One of his crew shouted in his best attempt of the human language, which was laudable, yet still sounded terrifyingly foolish. _I must take great care, that one will not speak in front of the arbiter, he will make fools of us!_ Encouraged, the rest of the command crew took up the call, the sound was dreadful. Yet while his crew made fools of themselves, they also made fools of the enemy that surrounded them. The enemy vessels were bulky, slow, and hideous. It was pleasing to watch them burn. _No wonder the arbiter's eyes were sore… these infidels are a blight!_

"Burn their mongrel hides!" Ryvu called out as yet another enemy vessel was easily blasted to oblivion. _I wonder if they even have hides… these infidels._ His crew took up the chant in their own language, which was a fairly standard remark his people used when referring to the despicable Jiralhanae. Those filthy creatures did have hides, the smell was quite pleasing when they burned.

"The Arbiter's plan was cunning, leader, the vessels that we led away from the battle will be out of the fight for a great deal of time." Nodding at his seconds' assessment he checked his display. The enemy craft maneuvered so poorly! It would be ages before they could rejoin the battle, the arbiter's plan had indeed been clever. Turning his attention to the force that assailed the arbiter's flagship he noted that they were being mostly ignored at the moment, very few weapons were being directed their way.

"The arbiter mocks them!" He laughed as he motioned towards the enemy ships on his display, "he turns away from them in disgust! They aren't even worth the time to kill!" Ryvu hadn't been sure of what he would think of the 'Honored Arbiter,' but he had made up his mind. He liked the creature.

* * *

"All reserve power to shields!" The lights on the bridge flickered again and again as the ship's systems desperately attempted to compensate for the immense amount of punishment that the shields were undergoing. "Captain Stillwell, status?"

"We're evacuating the last of the repair teams now, sir…" The image of Captain Stillwell flickered sporadically in front of him. Both ships were under heavy fire, the connection was abysmal at best.

"Captain, get off that damned ship, that's an order!" Barely discernable from all of the interference, the man's image saluted and turned away as the connection was cut off, _don't you dare think about going down with your ship captain, don't you dare._ Switching his attention to the three Star Destroyers that were covering the _Hydra_ , Kevin grimaced. All three ships were struggling, their shields wouldn't last much longer. But what else could he do? All of his squadrons were engaged, the majority of his batteries were covering his small fleet and a third of the enemy were out of the fight for the moment. Once those ships returned, the situation would deteriorate, rapidly.

Kevin gloomily forced himself to relax, he couldn't become too distracted with the minor details, he had to focus. His enemy had shown very little evidence of being adaptable, probably because he had obliterated their command ship in the opening phases of the battle. Each of the three enemy squadrons seemed to be intent on completing their own objective. According to his displays, the enemy battlegroup that had been led away from the fight was still angling to intercept and engage the Sangheili Cruiser, even though his own ship was much closer. Even more surprising, the enemies that were assaulting his Star Destroyers were entirely ignoring the Sangheili, even though it was quickly destroying them one or two at a time. Leaderless his enemies seemed to doggedly follow their previous orders, which was certainly something he could use in the future. _If we get out of this mess_. He cursed himself once again for falling into the trap.

Reaching out with his senses he was first drawn to Natasi, her aura burned brightly and she was determined to defeat her enemy. Her inner thoughts were closed to him, as usual, but he could easily discern that she was worried about him, which considering their situation was quite touching. Shifting towards the rest of the bridge crew he sensed a cocktail of emotions. He found it admirable that not a single man or woman was worried about the possibility of defeat, not yet anyway. Frowning, he noticed that the shields' officer and her small staff had suddenly become quite distraught.

"Forward deflector shields are fluctuating… redirecting power from non-essential systems…" The woman's voice was barely audible from where he sat but he could sense how worried she was, their shields couldn't take much more abuse before one or two of their shield generators were overloaded and collapsed. _You want us to pay attention to you, fine, now you've got our attention._

"Admiral, missile barrage authorized." Natasi's aura burned brighter, she was going to enjoy this.

* * *

 _Now we're talking!_ The _Night Hammer_ had just shown off another trick, missiles! The explosions were delightful. Very few of the enemy ships that were attacking the _Night Hammer_ were destroyed by the barrage, but not one escaped damage. One of the younger officers must have noticed her excitement and, obviously trying to impress her, told her that the _Night Hammer_ had two-hundred and fifty different missile launcher batteries _, two-hundred and fifty_!

"That's like… eight… or nine missiles per ship, hella' awesome!" It certainly looked like that's exactly what had just happened. None of the enemy ships had been spared, each one was rocked and battered by explosions. But just when Chloe thought that things couldn't get any more awesome, Peter ruined everything.

"Eight point three missiles per ship actually, repeating of course." Max giggled at her expression, she hated being corrected, especially when she was wrong, which she wasn't. She had said 'like eight or nine'. _Math is stupid anyway, nerd, explosions are way cooler, I hope we get to see more of those… but not the good guys exploding… that would suck._

"You can't launch point three of a missile at something, that's just stupid." She muttered under her breath only loud enough for Max to hear. When she was younger she wouldn't have showed such restraint, Max had been a good influence on her. Looking down at her partner she noticed that her face was full of worry and uncertainty. True, they were watching a live space battle unfold before their eyes which was crazy enough, but Max, as always, was probably trying to look at the bigger picture. She was probably racking her brain around every little detail trying to figure out what was going on. They still hadn't been told very much.

Apparently, that asshole Treize and some dude called 'The Grand Admiral' had gotten into some big argument and had almost gone to war. _The argument was probably about who had the more pompous name… or some stupid shit like that._ This 'Grand Admiral' dude was apparently banging the young FBI chick, Kimmy or whatever, so Treize had tried to abduct her. That made sense, grab the dude's woman and tell you to give up, classic bad-guy move. The part that didn't make sense was the fact that this Treize douchebag had tried, and almost succeeded in abducting her and Max. What the hell did he want with them? And why had he arrested Kevin and Kate, Kevin worked for Treize after all, right? But now it looked like all that shit didn't matter anymore, because the earth was in trouble and the two powerful dudes had now joined forces to defend the planet.

On top of all that, Max had once been able to control time, _control fucking time!_ Looking down at Max and her impossibly cute freckled-face, Chloe thought back to what had happened when she had entered into her partner's damaged mind. Reliving the experience in her mind made her shiver slightly, luckily Max didn't seem to notice. They definitely needed to talk about it, about what she had seen, about everything that was going on. But not right now, right now there was a battle on and things were exploding.

Just as Chloe turned her attention back to the battle she was dismayed by what she saw, the battle was over, she had turned back just in time to see the _Hydra_ disappear in a massive explosion and once it was apparent that the ship was no more the _Night Hammer_ and the rest of the good guys apparently jumped away. The hologram of the battle faded to black, and Chloe was left wondering how many of the good guys had died when the _Hydra_ had exploded. Apparently, everyone else in the room was wondering the same thing, _or perhaps thinking about even more depressing shit_ , because the room had grown eerily quiet. Max snuggled up to her even more so than she had before and she hugged her tightly.

She and Max were safe, for now, but for how long? Had that battle been won or lost? Who were the bad guys anyway and why were they trying to invade the earth? And where the hell did all these spaceships come from? Who was this 'Grand Admiral' dude anyway… and those dudes on the purple ship that was hella' awesome, were they really aliens? These questions and so many more plagued her mind. As each new question that she couldn't answer wracked her brain, she became more and more certain of one undeniable fact.

She needed a fucking cigarette.

* * *

"Captain Stillwell, you bloody fool!" Kevin screamed as he resisted the overwhelming urge to hit something that was threatening to overtake his self-control. He had just finished a post battle debriefing with Captain Reinhardt, Captain Stillwell had gone down with his ship. Apparently, he had wanted to make sure that the _Hydra's_ power core overloaded properly so that his ship couldn't fall into enemy hands. He had remained aboard and manually triggered the overload and now nothing remained of the damned fool, nor his ship.

"Kevin…" Natasi's tone was soft and her words reached out to him as if they themselves were trying to calm him. They were alone in her stateroom, it wasn't as lavish as his but only just barely. She was reclining on one of her two barely-comfortable leather couches. The damned things infuriated him, _why would you design a couch that wasn't comfortable?_ He had had two just like them in his own stateroom but he had replaced them immediately for furniture that was actually pleasing to sit on. Natasi didn't mind them, she didn't want her visitors sitting and getting comfortable in her presence anyway. However, her own comfort was a completely different matter entirely. Her chair that was behind her desk was more akin to a throne and was perhaps the single most satisfying chair to relax in that had ever been created by any race of beings.

"I ordered him to stay alive, I ordered him to get off that damned ship! But instead he blows himself up like a damned fool!" Again, he had to remind himself that he wasn't in his stateroom, he really wanted to hit something right now. He was furious, his rage was building. Everything inside of him screamed at him to give in, to lash out, to give himself over to the moment, but he resisted. But to resist meant pain, constant, frustrating pain. It only made him angrier.

"He did his duty." Her words were flat and emotionless, but her tone held a hint of iciness. S,he had said her piece and desired no further argument on the subject. He did not take the hint.

"His duty…" Scoffing at her words he continued to rant despite the growing tension in her body language. "His duty was to live! What is it that drives usually rational men to acts of sheer insanity and stupidity?" Clearly meaning the question to be rhetoric, he was shocked when Natasi growled out an answer, her hostile tone sent a piercing chill down his spine.

"You do." Blinking in confusion, he felt his anger slowly bleed away. The pain remained, he felt it dig into him, biting, gnawing, burning somewhere deep inside his soul. The two stared at each other in silence as the tension slowly bled out of the room. When it became clear that he had not understood, she shook her head in exasperation. "Damn you! How can you not see it?"

"See what?" Growling back through clenched teeth he balled his hands into fists, not because he was angry with her, but because the pain was rising again.

"The way the men see you! You gave them a purpose! Most of them were just like me, Imperials fighting to preserve something that maybe we shouldn't have. You showed them a different way, a different path, a path that restored their honor once again. They love you for this, every man and woman aboard this ship, hell in our entire fleet, would follow you anywhere if you asked them to. They aren't fools, they know that this upcoming battle is damned near hopeless, but they believe in you! Captain Stillwell believed in you! His ship was lost so he made damned sure that it didn't fall into your enemies' hands… I would have done the same thing! He deserves to be honored, not cursed for a fool! Your damned lucky that you were smart enough to keep your mouth shut about it until we were alone, if the crew saw you like this…" He must have let something slip, something must have shown on his face because her angry words trailed off and her face lost its ire.

When he had been much younger and really upset about something she had always reacted out of character. Her face would soften but her eyes remained hard and cold, as a child the effect had been somewhat terrifying. This strangely kind expression didn't sit well on her face but he had soon realized what it meant, she cared about him. It had been awkward at first, he had been a vengeful boy filled with hate and sadness but she had been there for him when he had needed it most. His hands were now unclenched, the pain was gone, but it had been suddenly replaced by the emptiness of despair.

"Kiera believed in me too…" He would have said more but he suddenly found his strength wavering. He was entirely unable to speak. She was on her feet now and she embraced him but said nothing as he cried into the shoulder of her dark green uniform. Body rigid and stiff with awkwardness Natasi nonetheless did her best to comfort him, just as she had done when he had been a scared child. As his tears continued to flow he realized that not very much had changed, the fear was still there, the fear of failure. He had failed Captain Stillwell, he had failed the hundreds of pilots who had died in the battle, he was afraid of failing everyone else.

It took time, perhaps several minutes, perhaps longer, for the tears to stop. Once he had recovered from the ordeal he refused to move, refused to hint to Natasi that he wished to be released from her somewhat comforting grasp. He felt empty, overwhelmed by shame. It was easier to keep his face hidden in her shoulder than to look into her eyes. As time crawled by however he slowly realized that he couldn't remain hidden forever, he had to face her eventually. She was right, the men and women under his command looked to him for guidance. He had to pick himself up, he couldn't fail them, not like he had failed Kiera. He hadn't been there for her when Vader's men had come for her, he couldn't make the same mistake again, he had to be there for them.

Slowly he withdrew from her embrace, but he kept his eyes fixed on her black boots. Tenderly, she placed her hands on either side of his shoulders and methodically did her best to straighten out his uniform. The uniform of an Imperial Grand Admiral, he hated it and almost never wore it. But if his enemy were to see him, they would see him in in his full glory, and so would his allies. The uniform was entirely white, save for his black boots, black belt and the annoyingly frilly golden epaulettes. On his left breast were a series of blocky citations that only made sense to former Imperials. One day he would phase out the Imperial uniforms, he hated them, but the men were used to them and his small amount of resources was almost entirely focused on keeping his men armed and his ships running.

Finished with his uniform, Natasi withdrew a pace and began to gently dab a handkerchief on his face, wiping away the remnants of his tears. She tilted his head upwards but seemed entirely unconcerned that he refused to meet her gaze. He felt like a child, he should have kept himself composed and saved his tears for when he was alone, as he usually did. Something inside of him had snapped though, perhaps it was his earlier thoughts of Kiera or the death of Captain Stillwell, perhaps both.

Casting him one last appraising look, Natasi clasped her hands behind her back and patiently waited for him to snap out of his stupor. Her expression was blank, her green eyes were hard and focused once again. If someone walked in at this very moment, not that they would, but if they had nothing would have seemed amiss. Kevin finally met her eyes and desperately searched for words, the right words. Words that would express how thankful he was for her constant support over the years. None came, either his shame still muddled his mind or the correct words simply did not exist.

Natasi's attention snapped towards her intercom on her desk when it buzzed an alert.

"Admiral, it's Treize, he desires to speak with the grand admiral directly… what should I tell him?" Her response was immediate and fierce, it took the stunned crewman a few moments to recover.

"Tell him to go to hell."

"Ma'am?" Sighing heavily Kevin raised his voice and spoke before Natasi had a chance to clarify what she had just said.

"Tell Treize that I'll be with him shortly." The crewman acknowledged and quickly ended the conversation, probably all too happy to be done with his duty. Admiral Natasi Dalla was known to be the type of woman that shot the messenger, she wasn't wastefully careless with her resources but her anger was legendary. Treize had probably been informed about the results of the skirmish, watched it unfold himself, or perhaps had noticed that his forces had returned without the _Hydra,_ either way he was right to be concerned. The fleet protecting the earth was now one Star Destroyer smaller. It was true that they had gained a Sangheili Cruiser, which was incredible, it was simply amazing how quickly they had arrived, but would they be enough?

"Treacherous slime, we should just glass him from orbit…" He smiled at her words but his slightly improved mood was lost on her, she was her old cold and brittle self again.

"I'll mention that you said 'hello'." She scoffed at this, making her way behind her desk, she moodily threw herself into her chair. "And… thanks… by the way…" His words were lame and awkward, feeling even worse when her merciless gaze fell upon him.

"For what, admiral?"

"For everything." She nodded curtly at this, her expression still hard and unrelenting but she had accepted his words and turned towards her work without a second glance. Feeling much better that he had finally said something, he turned and marched out of her stateroom and headed for his command suite on the bridge to discover what 'Master' Treize wanted. It was exactly what he had expected.

"My condolences concerning Captain Stillwell, I understand he had been with since the beginning?" That was unexpected, Treize's silver tongue was hard at work buttering him up, he kept his guard up though, but thanked him nonetheless.

"Admiral Dalla sends her regards." Treize's holographic likeness smiled at this and bowed slightly as if he had just been offered great praise.

"Indeed? I wish to congratulate her on her crew's performance during the battle, Captain Reinhardt as well, considerable damage was done to our enemy, despite the desperate situation that they found themselves in." That was indeed more like Treize, yes Kevin had lost a ship and a few hundred pilots but the enemy had lost dozens of combat ships and almost an equal number of transports. Their losses continued as many more of their ships had been grievously damaged and hundreds of their strike craft had been destroyed, hundreds more were stranded without carriers to support them.

Thousands of their soldiers were probably still floating in space awaiting rescue, except for the two dozen captives that were currently undergoing interrogation in his ship's brig. The Sangheili had expressed interest in the 'heathens' and a delegation was currently aboard 'observing' the interrogations. Once Kevin was done with Treize he would head down to see for himself how things were progressing, perhaps even lend a hand, so to speak, if the situation called for it.

"I will pass along your praise, I have duties to attend to 'Master' Treize, I however have noticed that the planetary shield generator is not fully operational yet, what's the status on that project?" The man smiled at his thinly veiled annoyance and once again ignored his taunts.

"Your engineers and mine are hard at work, they, as is custom for people of their field, are hesitant to give me a specific time when their task will be completed." That was, of course, all too true. Engineers, techs, grease monkeys, whatever you called them, always did their best to avoid informing their superiors of how long any given task would take. They had long ago learned that if they gave a specific estimation that they would be told to get the job done in half the time. If they gave a time, at all, it would most certainly be a gross overestimation of how long their task would take. That way if they were told to 'get it done faster,' their odds of success were much more favorable.

"We need that shield generator online, Treize, if there's anything that can be done to speed up their progress, I need it done." The hologram spread its hands out in a gesture of futility, but it kept smiling.

"Everything in my power will be done to assist, I assure you. Believe it or not I too do not wish to see our beautiful planet bombarded from orbit, or wish to suffer the horrors of a planetary invasion. Am I correct in my understanding that our enemies are indeed human?" _How the hell did he find that out, his agents must be leaking him information now that we're not trying to kill each other anymore…_

"Indeed. As usual you are well informed, your rats still squeak it seems. At least I know that these rats of yours are mostly harmless… and don't bite." Smiling ever broader, Treize refused to be baited, even though Kevin was boasting on how his men had refused to follow through with their assassination attempts.

"It was with a heavy heart that I gave that order, I am glad that my orders were ignored, as they should have been. We would certainly be lost without you in these dark times, even though you are failing to live up to your admittedly suffocating reputation." _You slimy, rat-faced, sithspawn!_

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Treize's composure finally broke and he became deadly serious.

"You fell for their trap, granted they foolishly baited it with their own men and they suffered for it, but you fell for it and lost a valuable military asset, and Captain Stillwell. It is very much unlike you. My faith in your ability to lead us through this dark time is unshaken, but I am concerned nonetheless." Kevin would have been furious at the man if he didn't heartily agree with him. However, their agreement didn't soften his response.

"Just get that damned shield generator online, don't contact me again until you do. Consider yourself fortunate that I didn't sink to your level during our… disagreement. If I had, you'd be dead 'Master' Treize." Before the man could respond, Kevin broke the connection and immediately noticed that he must have raised his voice higher than he had meant to, the bridge was eerily silent. When it became clear that he had ended the transmission the bridge crew hurriedly returned to their work. Silently cursing himself he swiftly left the bridge and hoped that their prisoners needed further encouragement, he really felt like hurting someone.

* * *

 _Commander Anderson, I think I could get used to this…_ However, it seemed that the rest of the occupants of the incredibly loud, ridiculously uncomfortable transport weren't as keen as he was on his promotion. Or perhaps it was something else, either way they kept staring, it was beginning to irritate him. Reaching out with his senses he found that the soldiers didn't seem to hold any ire towards him, it soon became quite clear that they were shocked that he looked just like someone else they knew. _God damnit, everywhere I go people look at me like I'm a damned ghost…_ Luckily, he didn't have to suffer the experience for very long because the ship entered into a stomach wrenching landing cycle. He would have become overwhelmed with confusion if he had time to think, weren't they heading for space?

The craft landed, hard. The rear doors burst open and as the crewmen were ushered out by screaming crew-chiefs Kevin almost stumbled, the deck was unsteady. To his shock, he was greeted to wide open blue skies as he stepped out onto the deck of a strange air-craft carrier of some sort. Dozens of other Albatross transports were landing and taking off all over the chaotically busy deck. Even though it was obvious at what the ship's basic role and function was, Kevin was still caught off-guard. He had never seen a ship quite like this one, he had thought he was familiar with every vessel of war on earth. It was big too, impossibly big, far bigger than it needed to be, the deck went on and on. _Probably another secret Treize Faction project_ , his thoughts were confirmed when it became apparent that he was the only one among the new arrivals to be taken aback by their surroundings.

Clutching the box that contained his new rank medallions he was waved over and directed to a friendly looking young-woman, probably no older than himself. She was dressed similarly to the rest of the crewman, except her uniformed jacket was dark green instead of a deep blue. Her jacket was also modestly decorated with golden epaulettes. Large black boots, seemingly similar to riding boots, came up nearly to her knees and her spotless white pants were tucked into them. Her short blue-black hair was being assaulted by the fierce wind that worried him immensely but she seemed to be entirely ignoring the gale. Because she wasn't dressed as gaudily as most of the officers within the Treize Faction he assumed she was of a lesser rank, he was wrong.

"Welcome to the _Leviathan_ , Commander Anderson. I'm Captain, Lucretzia Noin." He returned her crisp and well-practiced salute and made a fool of himself as he nearly dropped his precious box. She laughed lightly as he paled in embarrassment, but there was no malice in her, her attitude was warm and friendly, genuinely so. "Relax, I'll have someone lead you to your quarters where you can slap those onto a uniform, wouldn't want them to get blown overboard, now would we?" In fact, he was more worried about ending up in the rough sea himself, it wasn't that he couldn't swim, he swam well enough. But the thought of being tossed overboard in the open ocean, surrounded by the seemingly endless depths beneath him, that bothered him.

He was forced to steady himself as the deck beneath him buckled and slowly began to descend. All around him he noticed several more of the elevators begin to descend as well, all crowded with a mixture of crewmen and heavily armored soldiers. As the massive elevator that was clearly meant for launching air-craft descended into the ship he found himself staring in awe at his surroundings. The massive hangar seemed to be an endless maw of space, but it wasn't empty.

"Is that… a spaceship?" Captain Noin nodded and her smile broadened when she saw the look on his face. The _Leviathan_ wasn't a massive air-craft carrier, it was a spaceship. And deep within its belly, hidden in its massive hangar, were more spaceships. Not fighters either, big ships, warships. The strange thing was, even though the ships seemed completely alien to him, he recognized them.

"That's a Mantis Class Heavy Cruiser… and those two are Revenant Class Destroyers… those war games… those were all based off of real simulations?"

"Indeed, no need to bring you up to speed on how everything works that way. Did you think we'd teach you a bunch of nonsense that wouldn't matter in the end?" Kevin continued to stare and found himself speechless. All of the wargames that he had been training on, those impossibly hard and frustrating battle exercises had mostly been space battles. He knew that the grand admiral had a fleet of ships but that was about all he knew. He had figured that all of the various ships in the simulations had been made up. But now he was staring at supposed fictional starships and he began to wonder what fantastical ships made up earth's standing fleet. _I hope we have an Executor-Class Super Star Destroyer, please let us have one of those… or at least one Star-Destroyer… or maybe a Mon-Cal Cruiser…_

This was clearly a Treize Faction ship though, which probably meant it wasn't part of the earth's regular standing forces. The man he was cloned from, probably had no idea that this ship existed. Even worse, this was a Amarakk Carrier, he recognized it now, this ship was less of a warship and more of a mobile construction platform. Given time and the correct amount of resources it could produce warships, nothing bigger than a destroyer class ship which made the presence of the heavy cruiser all the more surprising, the damned thing barely fit inside!

"So… that's a heavy cruiser… which you guys didn't make with this… where the hell did that come from? And the resources to build all this… to maintain it…" he would have continued asking questions until the end of time but his words broke off as the elevator came to a rest at the bottom of the seemingly endless hangar. Turning back to the young, and fairly attractive captain he held his tongue when she waved a white gloved hand to end his questions.

"You'll get your answers later, I promise, I know this is probably quite a shock to you but the ensign here will show you to your quarters. I will see you on the bridge once you're in uniform." He was quickly dismissed and a young ensign, who seemed entirely too nervous around him, led him deeper into the bowels of the _Leviathan,_ a tremendously fitting name. The ensign did not speak a single word during their journey through the maze of tight corridors but the dizzying journey through the decks eventually came to an end. He was directed into a cramped room that barely existed, he had been in changing rooms more spacious. Far less impressed by his uniform he noted that it was an entirely different style from the gaudy Treize Faction uniforms, which he had been secretly hoping for.

The uniform that had been lain out on his bed was olive, boring and simple olive. No flair, no spectacle, simply olive. The cap was olive, the pants were olive, the jacket was, no surprise, olive. The boots and the belt were black, _thank God_ , but everything else was olive. Once dressed in the dreary uniform, which was a difficult task considering the lack of space in the room, Kevin exhaled loudly and exited the room. The ensign was patiently waiting for him and seemed to be just as unimpressed with his uniform as he was.

"Guess you're not one of us then…" The ensign grumbled but paled when he caught a flash of anger on Kevin's face. "I meant no offense, commander, sir… it's just I was hoping that…" The man stumbled over his words, clearly embarrassed. Forcing his voice to stay as calm and steady as possible Kevin tried to coax the words out of the stuttering man.

"Hoping what, exactly, ensign…?"

"Ensign Haratio, sir." The man went to attention and saluted sloppily, which was fine because as Kevin returned the gesture he assumed that his was just as horrid. "I was just hoping that they'd have given you a Treize Faction uniform, sir… not an Imperial Navy one…" Suppressing a sigh he wondered what the difference meant, this seemed to be a Treize Faction ship after all, did this mean he was part of a different chain of command?

"Yeah… me too, the Treize Faction one's are certainly much flashier… for fuck's sake Haratio, olive?" The man laughed, quickly forgetting his nervousness and together the pair made their way to the bridge, talking easily as they went.


	8. Chapter 8: Anticipation

**Chapter 8: Anticipation**

Luckily, there was a specific room down in the bunker designated for smoking. Unfortunately, half of the damned junior officers had followed her to smoke as well. One of the little shits had even tried to bum a cigarette off of her, _get your own dude!_ Two of the officers were moderately attractive women, girls to be precise, and four were fresh-faced, doe eyed, boys. Chloe ignored them and did her best to finish her cigarette before her companions summoned their courage to attempt conversation. She failed.

She had initially wondered why so many of them had been sent to keep them company, why send a dozen when you could send one or two? The most senior of their caretakers seemed to handle himself fairly well, he actually seemed grizzled and mature where the rest were more akin to childlike idiots. But, of course, that's why they had been sent down. They were untrained, inexperienced, bottom of the barrel idiots, they had probably been sent down here to keep them out of the way. She soon found out that their commander, Captain Cage, was a combat veteran of dozens of battles, a solid soldier, but he was now incapable of serving on the front line. Apparently, the idiots wouldn't stop gushing about him, the man had seen some shit, some serious shit. He had once been a badass in every possible meaning of the word, but now he was a shell of his former self, mostly broken, only really capable of looking after new recruits.

The young officers weren't shy about how green they were, which she found odd. She had expected the young men, who kept looking at her the way young men do, to try and impress her with bravado and tales of glory. However, they were refreshingly humble. They knew where they stood in the food chain, they knew why they had been sent down here, and wouldn't you know it they were honored. You could see it in their eyes, they were super stoked about being sent to look after Chloe and her companions. It didn't matter that they were basically glorified babysitters, they couldn't care less.

As she conversed with the young officers she hated them less and less, and even found herself getting along with them. They even let a few tiny morsels of information that they probably shouldn't have slip out while they were talking. Apparently, this grand admiral dude had a clone and he was on his way here for safe-keeping. They all wondered if this clone would be as awesome as the real man. This leader of theirs, whoever he was, apparently could do no wrong but the head honcho of the base didn't like him, for some reason.

The boys, and one of the girls, interestingly enough, were also really excited about the clone's lady-friend, she was apparently really hot. Suddenly realizing that Chloe was still in the room several hasty compliments were thrown her way, they certainly didn't think that this fabled beauty had any chance of being hotter than her, score. She found herself enjoying the company so much that she even had as second cigarette… and took the time to make some coffee for Max, she probably needed some after all.

Politely excusing herself from the conversation, she left her new friends and went in search of Max, steaming coffee in hand. She hadn't gone far. She was still in the main room and the holoprojector was once again showing a highly detailed image of the earth and the fleet guarding her, the awesome purple ship was there as well. Cruising in the shadow of the much larger _Night Hammer_ the much smaller ship looked far less dangerous, but Chloe knew better. Max was quietly listening to an intense conversation that the FBI agents were having, mostly led by Walter, and of course, it was about aliens.

Max saw her coming and gratefully accepted the coffee, wolfishly devouring it despite the fact that it was probably still quite hot. As Max thanked her, it quickly became obvious that she was hardly invested in the ongoing conversation. With a subtle nod of her head, Chloe motioned to one of the room's four exits. Her partner's eager nod brought a smile to her lips, hands clasped together, they made their escape.

The pair wandered for a few minutes until they found a suitable place to hunker down. They passed by offices, server rooms, an armory, a bathroom or two and a kitchen until they found something suitable, a bedroom. The room was small, smaller than the cramped dorm-rooms back at Blackwell Academy, but it had very little furniture so it seemed much bigger. A semi-comfortable double bed dominated the room but there was a small desk and a chair as well. There were two metallic nightstands on either side of the bed, the room had a closet which was filled with identical blue and white uniforms.

"Want to cosplay as these Treize Faction douchebags?" Chloe playfully asked Max as she held one of the jackets up to her chest, it might actually fit. Max smiled and took a careful sip from her coffee but shook her head slowly.

"I doubt that they have any that will fit me, unless they have any in extra-small." Chloe found herself grinning from ear to ear as she tossed the jacket haphazardly onto the floor, moving to join her partner who had seated herself on the bed. Running her fingers through Max's hair, she almost lost herself to the moment as she felt the tension bleed out of her. Similarly affected, Max relaxed considerably. However, her shoulders remained somewhat rigid while the tension in her eyes resiliently persisted.

Max knew what was coming, they had to talk about what had happened, she knew that it was unavoidable. It would happen when it happened though. Chloe was determined to enjoy their peaceful moment for as long as she could. Surprising Max with a quick kiss on the side of her neck, she withdrew and watched as her partner's resolve crumbled. She was surprised herself when Max tackled her onto the bed, nearly smothering her with her desperate kisses. The coffee was spilled, clothes were wrenched off and she quickly found herself worrying less and less if the door was locked or not.

* * *

"So… these Mgalekgolo… they are hive minded?" Peter and Walter had been overjoyed to learn that the Sangheili were indeed aliens. Their excitement grew exponentially when Captain Cage had begun to explain that the Sangheili weren't their only alien allies. Using the holographic projector, Captain Cage showed them image after image of three different aliens, each more impressive than its predecessor. Olivia remained silent and let her two more interested companions ask the questions. It wasn't that she didn't find it fascinating, Kimberly and Astrid were quite interested as well, but they knew better than to interrupt Walter when he got like this. He was like a petulant child at times, especially when you asked something he had been pinning to ask or made a deduction that had been on the tip of his tongue.

The first alien was of course a mighty Sangheili, a race of proud warriors with very advanced technology. Their ships and weapons were the best that they had ever come across. When the captain had described them as utilizing 'plasma' technology Walter had scoffed and insisted that was impossible. The captain had admitted that it was all way above him, apparently no one really understood their technology very well, but that's what they called it. Grumbling some more Walter had nonetheless allowed the man to continue.

The creatures towered over humans, usually they were seven or eight feet tall, and were a saurian species that was nonetheless somewhat humanoid. They had legs, arms, a few toes and four digits on either hand. The images showed the creatures in impressive sets of battle armor of various colors so it was impossible to see many other details other than their general appearance. But their faces could be seen, unfortunately. Their maws could give children nightmares, their jaws were quadruple-hinged, with an upper jaw and a greatly reduced lower jaw that consisted of four mandible-like lips. There were teeth everywhere, on the upper jaw, on the lower mandibles, lots of sharp pointy teeth. Imagining that the rest of their visage was just as horrid, Olivia was glad that all of the images were armored and revealed few other details.

The next group of aliens, the Unggoy, were much more appealing to the eye, almost cute. They were much smaller than the Sangheili, about five feet or so, and resembled several different animals all at once. Like earth's primates, they seemed to be able to walk upright but preferred to use their oversized forearms to aid them in travel, like chimpanzees. Their bodies were naturally armored with exoskeletons, but the images were all wearing additional orange combat armor as well. Their faces were covered in breathing masks and is was explained that the creatures breathed methane and could only survive for a short period without it. The small creatures had multi-hooved feet and three digits on their small hands. Olivia couldn't help but speak up towards the end of the explanation, interrupting Walter's questions about their blood, which apparently was bright blue.

"Apologies for interrupting… but the way you talk about these little guys… I would say that you've been around them quite a bit?" The captain nodded gravely, his face shadowed and grim.

"Yeah, I fought beside a gaggle of them for a while, tough little bastards…" Peter seemed rather amused by this statement. However, before he could speak his mind the captain continued, eyeing Peter harshly for a moment. "I know, I know, they look like teddy bears or some shit… and yeah they are fairly easily spooked… but when shit hits the fan and their backs are to the wall they fight tooth and… hoof for their lives. They've got this pack mentality, so when the pack is in danger they stop thinking of themselves as individuals. You see, we… as in our forces as a whole, used to have a few other planets colonized. But the grand admiral was seen as this holy figure by the Sangheili so their enemies sought to snuff him out. We lost all of our outposts on our other worlds save for one, the planets were glassed, just fucking wiped clean of life. But that wasn't before they sent in ground troops to wipe us out, they wanted to be sure that they got the big man's body after all, couldn't do that if he was burned to ash."

The captain was silent for a long time, clearly haunted by his memories. The young officers in the room were listening intently, nearly drooling over his words, this clearly wasn't something he talked about often.

"So, there I was, me and my squad, dug in on this planet… damn I don't even remember what we called it… nothing but glass now. Anyway, we were the last line of defense as the non-combats and the civilians evacuated. Our position was reinforced by a Sangheili commander and a whole platoon of Unggoy. The big one bought it early on, we got rushed by the Jiralhanae and some of the other aliens and the damned fool charged at em' with a glowing sword. Not to say that he didn't take a few of them with him but he bought it nonetheless, and the little bastards panicked. They saw us getting picked off one by one, they saw their leader get slaughtered so I guess that some of the little guys thought that we were fucked."

The Jiralhanae were large eight to nine-foot-tall ape-like hairy bipedal creatures, Olivia couldn't even fathom fighting one of them, especially if she was about five foot tall. But as the captain continued to speak she found herself listening intently, her mouth slightly ajar in shock.

"But they didn't run, it was damned obvious that they wanted to, hell I wanted to! But these little bastards held fast and fought like little maniacal demons. Two of them, the crazy bastards, they threw down their weapons and I thought they were going to run, just fucking bolt on all fours, but they didn't. These two guys popped two of their glowing blue grenades, one in each hand, and just rushed the brutes. You should have seen their hairy faces! One moment they are about to overwhelm our position and then the next they are getting charged by two little bastards waving grenades and shrieking at the top of their lungs. You see, these little guys, the damned crazy bastards, are basically walking fucking bombs. They've got methane canisters on their backs, methane! Throw some grenades into the mix and boom! The rest of em' charged into the fray and I saw a bunch of the bastards just tackle an injured brute, just mobbed him. He managed to rip one of their heads off before they beat him to death. We charged with them, me and the boys that I had left just said 'fuck it' you know?" Pausing again he turned to look at the young officers in the room and he nodded at them grimly, as if giving them permission to come closer and stop pretending not to listen and listen. The youth eagerly abandoned their tasks and crowded around as he continued to speak.

"These little guys, they are savage when they need to be. I saw one of them get his breathing mask ripped off and tossed aside, he could have scrambled to grab it so he could save his own skin, but he didn't. One of my boys, Corporal Wierzbowski, was getting manhandled by one of the damned beasts and this little guy used his last dying breaths to save the kid. Shocked me at the time, but someone explained to me later that because of our situation the little guys had embraced us as their pack. They weren't just fighting to save themselves, they were fighting to save us too. I tried to get his mask back on but the little guy was dead before I got it figured out. It was stupid, if I had been paying attention I wouldn't have gotten hit right then, but the little bastard had saved one of my boys so I had to try." The man's face was filled with emotion at this point, his voice was still steady and unwavering but it was obvious that reliving the memories was hard on him.

"I should have been looking after myself but I was a sergeant then, and sergeants look after their own damnit, that's just what you do. So, I got hit, damn near died, got hit square in the chest by a big damned hammer or some shit. I was crippled, choking on blood, and as the big hairy bastard got ready to finish me off I saw one of the little guys jump on his back and blast him right in the face. My own guys tried to get to me but they couldn't so the little guys dragged me back, got me out of the fight. I figured they were just dragging me back so they could get out of the fight too, but no, once we made it to the rear with the medics the two crazy bastards charged right back. It's all about the pack you see, and so long as one of em' makes it out, the pack survives. None of them made it back, not one, very few of my boys did, but they made sure that I made it…" The room was silent for an eternity, it was heavily oppressive, no one dared speak. The man was mourning the loss of his men, but he was also feeling the loss of his pack, the Unggoy had welcomed him into it and made sure that the pack had survived.

"So… did you get out of there captain?" The question was eventaully asked by one of the younger officers, a very young and pimpled faced youth with an awe-stricken face. The question, being quite foolish, snapped Captain Cage out of his remembrance.

"Of course, I got out of there! Would I be standing here if I hadn't?" The young man recoiled visibly from his superior's tone but he nonetheless managed to gather the courage to ask a second question.

"But how?"

"Quit your interrupting and I'll tell you how, now… where was I? Right… so there I was laying on my back with medics worrying over me and the fight was drawing nearer and nearer, you could hear it, you could see it in the faces of the medics who kept looking over their shoulders. We were being overrun but all the non-coms had been evacuated so it didn't really matter, we had held the line long enough. The ground started to shake, I thought it might be artillery or an orbital bombardment, but I was wrong. I don't have the words so I'll just show you a damned picture… there, it was one of these colossal fuckers… well two of em' to be specific."

The image that was now being projected was a massive armored creature, damn near the size of a tank. It had two thick, powerful legs, a large torso, and two thick arms. One arm ended in a massive cannon while the other had a enormous, thick, armored shield attached to it. The creature's head was small and barely discernable from the rest of its armored hulk and several large spines protruded from its hunched back. The thick armored body was dark blue and gray but in between the different intersecting sections of armor little patches of bright orange could be seen, _was that its skin?_

"This is a Mgalekgolo, or however you fuckin say it, we just call em' hunters. Why? Because they hunt, always in pairs. These two massive twelve-foot-tall behemoths stomped onto the scene and god damn did they make a mess of things, thank Christ they were on our side. The hairy brutes threw everything that they had at em' and then some and it didn't fuckin matter. Now listen, I know you two are scientist types, real eggheads, so don't smother me with questions that I can't answer. But I can tell you that these… creatures, these hunters, they're not single entities, they're made up of god knows how many individual slimy little worms called Lekgolo or whatever the fuck. The more worms that come together the smarter they get, kind of like a network of computers, so these hunters are colonies of worms… really violent, methodical, damn near unstoppable worms." And that's when Walter had asked his question about hive-minds and the captain thought long and hard about this before answering.

"Yeah, sure, sounds right to me. Apparently, the warrior organism that you see on display here is the rarest form of the worms that occur, but we've only ever seen their warriors. If there are just two of these things on that Sangheili ship up there then god damn put them on the moon and challenge these fuckers who are set to invade us to a ground pound, we'll win, easy…" His words trailed off as one of the female officers crept into the room. He had sent her off to find out where Max and Chloe had gone. He wasn't worried about them not hanging out with everyone else, he was just making sure that they weren't snooping around one of the armories or something like that. Smiling to herself, Olivia noted that the young woman's face was bright red with embarrassment. If Olivia was correct, and she would have wagered to even Peter that she was, the young woman had intruded on a very passionate moment between the two girls.

The young ensign whispered something in the captain's ear and his face flushed with color as well. Chuckling he seemed to whisper something back to the ensign then dismissed her. Turning to the rest of his officers he quickly sent them back to their duties, telling them that 'story-time' was over. Drawing closer to Olivia and her companions he spoke in a hushed voice.

"Those girls of yours are… how do I put it… blowing off steam at the moment… I'm guessing that they've had one hell of a day?" Olivia nodded and told him how they had been kidnapped by Treize's forces and then rescued in a firefight. Not wanting to go into details she simply said that one of them had suffered an affliction during the encounter but she was recovering. The man listened intently during her tale and cast a quick glance at Kimberly at the mention of the Treize Faction trying to kidnap the two girls. "I know you guys want answers, I'd like some too… we here are technically Treize Faction ourselves and it pisses me off to hear about all this shit that went down just because the big bosses at the top had a spat. I'd smack em' both in the mouth if I could… give em' a few words too. But either way you can't blame the two ladies for wanting some privacy… when shit hits the fan and things get deep… you gotta keep those you care about close, real close. That means you ma'am, I won't think less of you if you and the young egghead disappear for a while yourselves, go on, time's a wasting, could be the end of the world after all."

"You see Peter! Even he sees it! Agent Dunham, I've been telling him for months now to…" Peter, seemingly as embarrassed as she was, quickly quieted his father and Astrid took him to the side before he could say anything further. Kimberly was smiling, clearly pleased with the situation.

"They both have a point you know." Those were the only words that she offered and she left to join Astrid as she tried to settle Walter down.

"You're damn right I have a point miss! You can't hide this shit from me, Captain Cage see's all, just ask my boys and girls." The captain winked at her and dismissed himself with a slight bow and all of the sudden she and Peter were alone. Peter was doing his best to shake off his awkwardness and she knew that her face had colored slightly. She liked Peter, or did she really like him… or maybe she really, really, liked him… either way she wished deep down that she wasn't so hesitant to explore her feelings for the man. _But why? It's apparently abundantly clear that there's something between us… hell even this captain noticed it and we've only been here a short time…_

Maybe it would be a good idea to spend some time alone with Peter, what was she afraid of after all? _Is that it, am I afraid of getting into something… more with him… does he know that I'm afraid, is that why he's never said anything after all this time?_ _He always reads me so well… so how can he not know what I'm feeling… but how can he know if I don't even know?_ All of these questions and more soared around her head but she soon managed to meet his sheepish gaze. As she looked into his eyes she felt something change deep inside of her. She was no longer afraid.

* * *

Kevin, thanks to Ensign Haratio had made it to the bridge, and Captain Noin motioned for him to join her at the front where she stood, surrounded by less than organized chaos.

"I assume that you have questions." She hadn't turned to face him at all as she spoke, nor did she turn as he responded. Not really knowing how to bring up his earlier concerns that still plagued him, he stammered out his confusion about the difference in uniforms. "Well as a Commander you have authority over everyone on this ship, save for myself, you're my second in command…" _I know how military hierarchy works…_ but as she continued he was glad that he kept his thoughts to himself. "… and, as I'm sure that you've undoubtedly noticed, you're the only one aboard wearing that uniform, any thoughts as to why?" _that's what I just asked you… fine I'll play along… for fuck's sake._

"This is a Treize Faction ship, and you're all Treize Faction… and I'm not… even though I was given this rank by members of the Treize Faction… or was I…?"

"You weren't given anything, you earned that rank as per the results of your years of training and your capabilities in the simulations you were challenged with… and… because of who you are and who you are expected to be, you're a clone of the grand admiral after all." _So that training… I earned this rank? But wait…_

"I damn near lost all of those exercises, I only won the ones where I had an unfair advantage to start with… and that almost never happened."

"Who do you think you were playing against? A computer, a simulation?" _Oh shit… now this is where she tells me that I've been fighting against… him… all along… no wonder I rarely won._

"Okay… fine… that explains why I rarely won. So… I earned my rank due to my performance and then the princess and two generals present me with my rank out of the blue and now I'm all of the sudden allowed to lead troops into battle, fine, I'm ready. But what about this damned uniform… why the difference?" She finally turned to face him, her face filled with amusement.

"You really are just like him… you don't understand politics at all, do you?" Taken aback, he wasn't sure if he was more annoyed about being compared to the man he was cloned of or about her amusement. But his displeasure melted away, the young captain had this way about her, this almost carefree honesty that made her next to impossible to dislike.

"Politics? How is this about politics? This is about a uniform." His rushed response only made her earnest smile broaden and he began to feel rather foolish in her presence.

"It has everything to do with politics. Everyone knows that a war almost broke out because two powerful men disagreed on something. We're all on the same side but a line was drawn and soldiers who had been brothers found themselves on either side of a widening battle-line. I issued you that for two reasons, firstly, and most importantly, it shows the men and women aboard this ship that even though you aren't one of them, you're still standing with them. Secondly, if I had issued you a Treize Faction uniform, far too many people would have taken it as a snub against the grand admiral. Just imagine, the very clone of the grand admiral waltzing around in a uniform that represents the very man that he had almost gone to war with, such a thing might restart hostilities once again… that we cannot afford." _Politics are stupid… it's just a uniform…_ but as he mulled over her words he eventually decided that it wasn't just a uniform, it was his uniform.

His newfound feelings of pride soon gave way to steadily increasing feelings of discomfort, he was being watched. Not directly of course, everyone on the bridge was busy with various tasks, seemingly hard at work. No one was outright staring at him, but the multitude of quick, almost nervous glances was steadily becoming unbearable. He did his best to ignore the unwanted attention as he desperately did his best to convince himself that it wasn't a big deal.

Due to his attire he was a speck of mundanity in a sea of far more interesting creatures, he stood out like a sore thumb. Refusing to look with his eyes, and therefore acknowledging the discrete attention that he was receiving, he stretched out his feelings and took in the myriad of emotions from his audience. They weren't looking at his uniform though, they were looking at him. His face, his lack of the scar, his presence. They knew who was, they all did, they knew what he was, or rather, what he wasn't.

 _I'm not a real boy…_ the thought bore down on like an oppressive accusation, worse than it had ever done before. When he had finally come to terms with the fact that he was indeed a clone of someone else, even though it had seemed ludicrous at best, it hadn't really bothered him. He had lived a unique life and was just the same as everyone else, it hadn't really mattered that he was apparently a copy of someone else. He was so very different from this other him that it had created a sense of uniqueness between the two, establishing each as their own exclusive individual. The constant reminder from these people that he, and the man that he was a copy of were 'so much alike' made him nauseous.

"They don't know what to make of you, yet. Don't worry about it, we'll show them." Captain Noin, obviously noticing his discomfort, was trying to make him feel better, she acted like she was on his side, which was weird.

"Are you the only normal person in the Treize Faction, you don't act all pompous and self-involved like the rest of them, it's… refreshing." It hadn't seemed possible before, but her smile widened further at his comment. She seemed to be toying with several different ways to respond to his question but eventually settled on one.

"I'm from the ranks, not an aristocrat or a career officer like the rest. But don't worry, I'm not soft, just ask my crew." Kevin immediately forgot what he was going to say in response when one of the watch-standers called out to their captain.

"Ma'am, the second wave of transports from Europe is en route… the first wave from Africa will be touching down shortly!" She nodded in acknowledgement and the man returned to his duties. Turning back to face him, she must have noticed his brow furrowing in slight confusion.

"Treize reached out to the nations of earth… they are answering." His eyes widening in surprise he did his best not to allow his mouth to gape open as well, it was a challenge to be sure. "The grand admiral has ships and barely enough crew to operate them efficiently, but he lacks soldiers. He seems to think that the enemy will attempt to board our ships and the Treize Faction doesn't have enough soldiers to fill his needs and keep enough soldiers on the ground to protect our assets in case of a ground invasion." She paused for a moment as she regarded the central holoprojector that showed a digitally rendered three-dimensional map of their location. According to this, they were currently off of the west coast of Spain and green symbols that Kevin recognized as designating various types of transport craft were steadily advancing towards them, dozens of them. "Some governments are being more generous than others but it seems that mostly everyone is doing their part. Apparently, we have a few transports loaded with handpicked soldiers from a few warlords too, their best apparently. It's not all good news though, The US, Russia, and China have all refused to send troops, all for different reasons of course."

"Let me guess, they're all moronic, self-serving reasons?" He immediately regretted his words because her smile, that had decorated her face since he had met her, vanished. If he had doubted her resolve in any way before, which he hadn't, his concerns would have dissipated at that moment. Behind the friendly demeanor of Captain Lucretzia Noin was a very serious and seemingly formidable woman.

"The US refuses to work with us because our agents were caught within their borders attempting to abduct several of their citizens, friends of yours I-."

"What? Who?" He blurted his words out quickly and perhaps louder than he should have, the entire bridge crew seemed to flinch as his sharp words brought sudden silence to the entire room. It was obvious that he was angry, his hands were balled in fists of rage, his entire body was rigid with tension. He didn't care though, his thoughts had immediately gone to Max and Chloe, he didn't know why but somehow, he just knew that Treize had tried to abduct them, he just knew. Captain Noin regarded him for a few moments and then turned to cast a gaze at her crew, but did not signal for them to return to their duties. Instead she raised her voice slightly so that her words would be heard by everyone.

"Maxine Caulfied and Chloe Price were abducted but then rescued by US federal agents in San Francisco, rumors are that the grand admiral had forces in play as well and I suspect that he did. The Treize Faction agents were killed to the last man, apparently refusing to surrender. A second abduction attempt was also thwarted at Harvard University, this time solely by the grand admiral's forces. Though I am unsure of the target, there are rumors that those same two girls were evacuated from that location following the attack." _That bastard! Did he go after Max and Chloe just to get to me? He already had Kate! He didn't mention a word of this to Kate and I… I would have killed him… wait, why is she putting this conversation on display like this? Politics probably… does she want them to see my reaction… if so does she want me to flip out or remain calm? Damnit, should I say something?_

"Please tell me that Max and Chloe are okay, that nothing bad happened to them?" _I would have sensed it right?_ Terror seized his heart when he noticed a subtle shift in the woman's stance, something had happened to them, something bad.

"Details are scarce but I heard a report that something strange afflicted one of the girls, that's all that I know, I'm sorry." _Max, it had to have been Max… had her powers come back? If so I should have sensed it…_ Later, he was going to make a demand to be allowed to get into contact with them, wherever they were. Thinking on it, he hoped that wherever Kate was being shuttled off to was the same place that Max and Chloe had disappeared to, that made some sense. However, he would deal with all of that later. He had a chance here to impress the crewmen around him, they could see that he was angry, they could tell that their captain didn't approve of these abductions. He had to make it clear to them that he could work with them, despite everything that had happened. Forcing himself to be calm he did his best to sound interested in other matters, and not just the fate of his friends.

"So that's why America is refusing to join us, what about Russia and China?" Noin smiled grimly at him, seemingly amused at something. At first, he suspected it was his muted reaction to her news, but her next words confirmed that it wasn't.

"It would appear that Russia was preparing an offensive against the Ukraine… the grand admiral made it clear that if they went ahead with it he would bombard their forces from orbit, so they aren't really interested in working with us. The Chinese are claiming to need all of their forces for home defense, even though a majority of their forces are still directed against their neighbors. It probably didn't help matters when the grand admiral made sure to send them a similar threat not to take advantage of the situation." Kevin mirrored the woman's grim smile with his own. _So, it would seem that Treize and the grand admiral have alienated three of the most powerful countries in the world, well done you two… well done._

The time for words had passed though, the _Leviathan_ needed to be ready to receive these soldiers and the crew still had a lot of work to do. Kevin felt like a fish out of water struggling for breath, but he was determined to prove to the crew that he was useful. The officers who had been delegated to receiving the incoming soldiers seemed to have their hands full. With approval from Captain Noin, he moved to assist them. After some initial tension, and some awkwardness, they got to work finding room for everyone in the already cramped warship.

* * *

It was amazing how therapeutic sex was. Maybe it wasn't like that for everyone, maybe it was just Chloe and how simply amazing she was… at everything, but for Max it was. The world and its worries just melted away, becoming entirely unimportant. During those heated, passionate moments nothing else mattered to her, nothing except for Chloe. But as her beating heart slowly returned to normal and her sweat covered skin gradually dried, she found herself holding Chloe's warm body tighter and tighter, willing the world and all of its problems to go away for just a few moments longer. It was inevitable, however, just as Chloe's own heartbeat gradually returned to normal, the world wormed its way back in and she was forced to reconcile with the cold hard truth.

Her powers had tried to come back and they had almost killed her. Chloe had entered into her fractured, decaying mind and dragged her back to reality kicking and screaming. Worse, Chloe now knew about her powers and she now had the arduous task of recounting events for her, specifically the events that she didn't remember because of the time paradoxes. She desperately wanted to know what Chloe had encountered inside her mind, but at the same time, she really didn't. Chloe probably felt the same way about it, but it was impossible to ignore, there was this widening rift growing between them that had to be addressed, it just had to be.

So, without warning or provocation, she started to recount her tale of the events that had been erased from existence before everything had been set right once again. She began slowly at first, speaking in a soft voice, keeping her head firmly planted on Chloe's bare chest, seeking comfort and strength from her strong and steady heartbeat. The heat from their passionate moments had begun to fade so she pressed herself closer to her lover's warm, naked flesh.

Clearly noticing Max's discomfort, or perhaps growing cold herself, Chloe wrenched the covers of the barely comfortable bed over them, taking extra effort to make sure that Max was appropriately covered. As she continued with her tale her voice grew firmer, she spared no details, she remembered everything like it had happened yesterday. All of these events, all of these moments had been removed from existence, but she had kept them with her, perfectly preserved. This new timeline that had been created dismissed her memories as fiction but they were real to her, they mattered to her more than anything.

This old timeline, the one where Nathan Prescott had shot and killed Chloe in the girls' bathroom at Blackwell Academy right before her eyes, the one where she had first realized that she had somehow acquired mysterious time powers, was responsible for who she was today. Not only had she saved Chloe with her powers, not only had she been reunited with her best friend, not only had she found love and companionship, she had also found confidence, confidence in herself. Chloe remained silent as she listened to her explain everything in agonizing detail.

Surprisingly, although not really, Chloe managed to contain her jealousy concerning the many interactions between her and Kevin, even the more intimate ones. Chloe had really grown up. Max could tell that her partner adored and cherished every moment between them, she laughed and smiled at their antics, tensed during the hard parts, and held her closer during the really special moments. There were some hard parts to talk about, equally hard for Chloe to hear, but they had to be spoken about. First there was Kate's suicide attempt, it seemed impossible to imagine Kate Marsh, the most positive and hopeful person that they had ever met, standing on the edge of a building ready to throw herself off of it. But it had happened, Kate had actually jumped, but Max had used her powers to save her.

Next was their fight and her journey back in time to save her real dad, William, from dying. Chloe's heartbeat had suddenly intensified during that part of the story but it had nearly stopped as she had recounted the terrible state that this alternate Chloe had been in. It was strange, this alternate version of her partner had been so positive and loving, so full of strength, but she had still asked Max to help her die, and Max had killed her, she had killed her Chloe. She was silent for a long time after that, unable to speak, dangerously close to tears at the memory of the traumatic event. Chloe didn't speak, she just held her, smothering her with love and comfort, lending her the overwhelming strength that she alone seemed to possess.

Eventually she managed to continue, but her resolve wavered once again when she recounted their discovery of the 'dark room' and their discovery of Rachel Amber's decaying corpse. Chloe handled the tale stoically, impressively so, but Max hurried past the event as quickly as she could. Unfortunately, that meant that she was soon retelling what she remembered of her kidnapping. Mark Jefferson, a man who she had adored, trusted, one of the few people that could do no wrong in her eyes had stuck a needle into her neck and had used her, degraded her, humiliated her. Chloe hated this part, she could feel her partner seething in rage, furious, nearly burning in anger, her heart pounding heavily in her chest. She enjoyed the part where she came to her rescue, she really enjoyed the part where she shot and killed the man who had abducted her.

But after that came the impossible choice, the worst part about the entire tale, the reason why no matter what she would always hold Kevin in the highest regard. She loved him almost as much as she loved Chloe, he had fixed everything. She told Chloe, her voice cracking and wavering with emotion, how she had begged Max to just let her die so that the storm would be prevented, so that Arcadia Bay and all the people in it could be saved. Max had initially set out to do just this, there didn't seem to be any other option, the super smart but kind of crazy Doctor Walter Bishop had agreed too.

But when she had returned to the past, returned to that moment when she had saved Chloe, her resolve had vanished. Nathan had shoved Chloe up against the wall, had a gun to her chest and Max knew that she just couldn't let her die, not again. So, hammer in hand, she had come around the corner to charge to her friend's rescue. At that moment Kevin had burst through the door and attacked with a fury of violence that shocked her to motionlessness and then she had been shot. She stopped there, Chloe knew the rest so there was no need to continue.

They lay together, entwined in each other's arms in a comforting embrace. Total and absolute silence held after that, it felt to her that a single word would tip the world over into madness and everything would plunge into the abyss. But that didn't happen, Chloe knew the right words to say, the right magical words that broke the curse that had entombed them to silence.

"I love you Maxine Caulfield." And the curse was broken, which unleashed the teasing. "I can't believe he called you shit like 'honeybunny', gag, holy shit I bet you that he calls Kate that and she just eats that shit right up! You two were probably super, vomit worthy, adorable together too, just say the word and I'll steal Kate away so you two can be all gross together… I bet you that she would dig me, it's cool." Max kissed her before she could say anything more, God knows that she would have gone on and on for hours if she hadn't.

"I love you too, Chloe Price…" Her words trailed off somewhat sadly, the ordeal wasn't over yet, they still had to talk about what had happened inside her head, but Chloe shrugged it off, carefree as ever.

"Don't stress 'honeybunny', holy shit I'm going to start saying it now… seriously it wasn't a big deal. It was just a whole bunch of shit that you just told me, lots of memory fragments and me dying over and over again… there was some other shit though…" She added the last words hesitantly, it was obvious that she really didn't want to talk about it.

"Chloe…"

"Jesus… fine, twist my arm why don't you… there was this younger you, I guess sometime after you moved to Seattle… you… or she…was really upset about something and kept saying how sorry she was and that she missed me and shit. Then there was this older you, she was a nasty bitch… and yeah like I said lots of me dying and you being all sad about it… and then there was this Max who took me down memory lane, like literally the stuff you just told me about. Then… there was this Max, probably could have very easily been you, standing over my grave. She let me die so the storm wouldn't happen, I had asked her to apparently, you know… just like you said… but I got mad at her. I told her that my Max wouldn't have given up like that just because I asked her to, yeah I know I'm an idiot."

Max hugged her, she gripped her partner tightly in her arms, perhaps too tightly. Turning to face her, Chloe seemed surprised at first to see her grinning from ear to ear but she was soon wearing a smile of her own.

"You… you had faith in me… Chloe… you have no idea how much that means to me…" Scoffing Chloe playfully mussed up her hair and kissed her now exposed forehead.

"Of course I did, you dork, you're supermax." Max leaned in to kiss Chloe and she looked all too happy to receive it but she suddenly withdrew when someone pounded on the door from outside of the room.

"I'm sorry to interrupt ladies, but everyone is here now and lots of people are asking about you two." The voice belonged to Olivia, it sounded to Max that she was amused about something.

"Lots of people? I thought we were just waiting on like… one or two more?" Chloe hadn't moved and seemed more annoyed at being interrupted than confused as her words might have suggested.

"I did as well but apparently there was a change of plans. I believe both of your parents are here-." Chloe jumped out of the bed in a flash and was frantically throwing on her clothes and she hurried to do the same. _My mom and dad are here? And Joyce and David? But wait…_

"What about Kate and Kevin?" Max called out as she threw on her clothes. Olivia hesitated a moment before answering, giving Chloe time to blurt out another question.

"And what about this clone dude's lady-friend or whatever, apparently she's almost as hot as me!" She froze and looked at Chloe, half smiling, half in shock. At that moment, Chloe stood on the opposite side of the bed, her jeans on but unfastened and not quite pulled up all the way around her slim waist. She had just finished securing her black bra and was reaching down for her white undershirt, her ample cleavage even more so apparent as she bent down. She was frozen in place and was flashing Max one of her famous mischievous smiles, _there is no way that anyone is hotter than my Chloe, no freaking way! Just look at her! Ugh! I want to rip her clothes off all over again! So not fair!_ But then it suddenly dawned on her, she had left out something very important in her recollection of the past, something that really mattered, Chloe's question had confirmed it.

"Chloe… the clone dude's lady-friend… that's Kate…" Her partner's smile vanished and was replaced with a sudden realization.

"Kate… Kate fucking Marsh… so Kevin is the clone of this grand admiral dude…?" Max nodded and Chloe's face scrunched up in annoyance, slight traces of anger crept their way into her eyes. "Two Kevins, that's bullshit!" Max burst out laughing, she couldn't help herself.

* * *

The main room was now crowded. Max had expected that they were just waiting on Kevin and Kate but there definitely had been a change of plans at some point. She would learn later that Kate had ordered the pilot of her transport to gather her family. The pilot, clearly aware of who Kate was and who she knew had immediately obeyed. Kate had also decided that Max's parents and Chloe's family should be gathered as well. Luckily for her, the grand admiral's personal soldiers assisted her in locating them. Kate had apparently gotten along with her escort famously and the five trained killers had treated her like royalty. She certainly looked the part, while the room was descending into a chaotic scene of reunions and hasty introductions Kate remained the eye of the storm, calm, collected, head held high. But as Max regarded her more closely she sensed an inner darkness within her, and the reason became abundantly clear later.

Max rushed to her parents and was immediately surrounded with love and affection. She was lucky, she got along with her parents better than anyone that she knew. They had probably been escorted out of their home in Seattle by soldiers and at Kate's behest but they seemed to be adapting to the strange situation with little difficulty. They had been told little of what had happened and she didn't have the courage at the moment to explain everything but she quietly assured them that she was doing well and that everything would be explained later. Thankfully their steadily increasing volume of questions was cut short when Chloe's conversation with her own mother turned heated.

"He what?" Chloe's shrill voice exploded, causing the entire room to turn towards her and her mother. Joyce folded her arms and glared at her daughter, clearly unamused by her outburst. "That idiot! He shouldn't have, why'd you let him go?" Momentarily confused Max quickly searched the faces in the room, all of which were now turned in Chloe's direction, and was just as shocked as her partner was. David Madsen, Chloe's step-father, was nowhere to be seen.

"Do you think I had a choice! He's a soldier, the moment that he heard that there was some war on he volunteered, a good thing too, they're apparently desperately short on soldiers, haven't you seen the news?" Joyce was just as furious with her daughter as usual but Chloe refused to back down.

"Mom! Don't you get it, he's going to get himself killed!" Chloe's voice cracked with emotion and her mother's jaw dropped when it became clear that her daughter was actually concerned for his safety, she was just doing a terrible job at expressing her feelings. It was true that Chloe's relationship with her step-father had improved over the years, she had finally accepted him as part of their family, but just barely. _She's worried that he won't come home again… just like her father… oh no… Chloe…_ Joyce chastised her for her words but it was clear that Joyce was just as worried as her daughter even though she had put on a brave face, a face that mirrored Kate's. _Oh no… Kevin too?_

Max tore herself away from her parents and rushed to Kate's side who was surrounded by her family. Her sisters were on either side of her looking around the room in a mixture of awe and confusion while her parents stood behind the trio. Her mother seemed furious about the whole state of affairs but it seemed that Kate's father, grim faced, was handling the experience with impressive fortitude. If Kate said that everything was okay, he believed her and was ready to follow her without question.

She nearly knocked Kate off of her feet as she embraced her and Kate seemed to be overwhelmed with happiness despite her brutal attack.

"Max! Thank goodness, you're safe! I heard such terrible things!" Kate's relief was palpable and while they hurriedly spoke Chloe soon joined them, hugging Kate just as fiercely, a devious look in her eyes.

"So… Kate, there was a running bet around here that you were like the hottest girl in the world, besides me of course." Chloe added the last bit haughtily and with an air of superiority and made sure that the nearby officers could hear every word. Blushing Kate followed Chloe's gaze towards the clustered officers, they quickly found other things to do. Clearly having difficulty with her words Kate slowly prepared an appropriate response but Max couldn't contain herself and interrupted.

"Kate… where's Kevin?" Max noticed Kate's whole family tense at the question. Her father seemed to be beaming with pride while her mother became even more annoyed. Kate's two sisters moved closer towards Kate as if ready to support her should they be needed. They were. Kate's resolve buckled and her previous stoic composure was replaced with overwhelming sadness. She fought off her tears at first and adamantly refused to be comforted by her sisters, but she soon gave in to her grief and allowed Max to embrace her.

The room went quiet once again and as Max held Kate, she noticed that Kevin's parents had joined the crowd, perhaps at the worst time. His mother paled at the sight of Kate in tears, she might have even heard Max's question. His father, on the other hand, was caught up in a very heated conversation with Major Elliott, neither man seemed to be enjoying it. Somehow, a few words breached the surface through Kate's despair.

"He's gone…to space… he's going to fight." The words seemed to crush Chloe's earlier mood and she turned to look back at Joyce. Max was at a loss, she didn't know what to say or do, she stood there holding Kate as she gave in to her grief. All at once the room was consumed in commotion and the officers began to cluster around the holoprojector.

"Impossible! That can't be right!" One of the young men called out. Captain Cage, clearly annoyed, growled at the youth while he typed in a series of commands and the holoprojector quickly focused on the disturbance. Off the coast of Spain, there was a group of four signals that had appeared out of nowhere as if they had risen out of the ocean.

"Spaceships! Where the hell did they come from? Are those ours?"

"Calm down Ruiz, their I.F.F.'s are reading as Treize Faction so of course they're ours. See look, the system is reading them as friendly-."

"But where the hell did they come from, I didn't know we had a fleet!" Ruiz protested and his superior shot the young man an angry glare that silenced him.

"Major Elliot, sir, I think it's time you explained to these folks what's going on, and my boys too, if another one of them asks another stupid question I might just rip their damned head off." And so, as the four ships rose steadily into the sky, Major Elliot took the center stage as a hushed silence overtook the room. Kate's soft sobs could be heard as she buried her face deeper into Max's chest but they were eventually drowned out by the major's powerful voice as he explained everything. Kevin's parents gasped, they were clearly stunned to learn of just who their son was while Kate's family had muted reactions, Kate it seemed, had already told them. Max and Chloe's families grew quite angry to learn that their daughters had almost been kidnapped but turned thankful and approving glances towards Olivia when they learned of their rescue.

Major Elliot motioned towards Captain Cage and the holoprojector suddenly changed to show a massive fleet of warships. There were hundreds of them, far too many to count. He explained that this fleet was approaching earth with hostile intentions and that their forces were preparing to defend the planet, but were massively outnumbered. He spoke of an energy shield that was being prepared to protect the planet from invasion, but until it was operational they were in danger. Their fleet may be smaller, may be heavily outnumbered, but their ships were far more advanced and they had allies rushing to their aid. To stress this point, he motioned to the captain again and the holoprojector showed images of the skirmish that had already taken place. The gathered audience was stunned by the fierce battle and Max found herself dreading the end. Kate watched with misty eyes as the ships clashed and exploded, seemingly gaining hope as the outnumbered forces from earth inflicted heavy damage on their opponents. But in the end, she winced and grew grief stricken once again when it became clear that the defenders weren't invincible as the _Hydra_ exploded once more.

As the major continued to speak about the upcoming battle Max held Kate closer, it was obvious what she was thinking. Kevin hadn't been aboard that ship, but he was aboard one now. As the defenders mustered their forces around the earth it was abundantly clear that Kevin was now in harm's way. When the battle broke out more ships would explode and for every defender that succumbed to their seemingly inevitable fate, it was just another chance that Kevin would be no more. It was true that he wasn't the only one fighting for the earth, but at that moment he was the only one that mattered to Kate, he was her world, and her world was in danger of being snuffed out. Max felt that way about Chloe, she was precious to her, _thank God that she's here and not off fighting like Kevin and David, I'd be a wreck if she was…_

* * *

 _This is insane! The news is probably having a field day… 'this just in, there are four spaceships rising out of the ocean! Also, strange ships have surrounded the planet but don't panic, they're the good guys! When the hundreds of enemy ships show up, then you can panic!'_ Kevin amused himself with his thoughts as the _Leviathan_ and her squadron of ships slowly ascended. The two destroyers, the _Pisces_ and the _Cancer_ , and the heavy cruiser, the _Triton_ , had been unloaded and were under their own power now. The _Leviathan_ was heavy enough, it didn't need the extra weight of three ships in its now gaping belly weighing it down. Especially since all four ships weren't using their main engines for lift yet. The _Leviathan_ and her squadron were using their repulsor drives for lift at the moment and would do so until they had risen to sufficient altitude. It was explained to him that if the massive ships activated their main engines too early they could cause significant damage. So, the ships rose from the ocean at pace akin to a snail as they slowly but inexorably rose towards the heavens.

While they ascended he found himself with nothing to do so he retreated to his thoughts. He had expected to sneak into space in one of the small Albatross transports and hide amongst the ground troops or perhaps masquerade as a fighter pilot. He was actually quite good with the simulators that he trained in, but his fantasies had not been realized. There would be no sneaking into space aboard the _Leviathan_ , especially not as the second in command. The grand admiral would soon know what he was up to, and he would send him packing. Or would he? _I'm all uniformed up and in a legitimate command position, will he really throw me out when he discovers me? I'm technically disobeying his orders… how much weight does this princess really have, she clearly knows him and thinks highly of him… maybe this is all some stupid test… if so have I failed or passed?_

Before he could come up with suitable answers to his own questions he was wrenched from his thoughts when the communications officer on the bridge reported that they were being hailed by the _Night Hammer_. Kevin began to inch out of range of the communications gear but Captain Noin snapped her fingers at him, pointing directly to the deck, right at her side. Suppressing a sigh of dissatisfaction, he obeyed his superior all the same and stood at attention directly behind and to the right of her. Silently waiting for the guillotine to drop, he watched as a hologram of the grand admiral appeared mere feet in front of him. Even before the image had finished materializing he found himself under scrutiny, a heavy and suffocating glare locked onto him. He barely recognized the man that stood before him, even though he looked just like him, save for the scar that went through his right eye.

Dressed in the uniform of an Imperial Navy Grand Admiral the man looked flashy and foreboding all at once. The entire uniform was white, save for the long black boots, a simple black belt, and golden epaulettes on his shoulders. A cape as black as space itself was draped over his left shoulder, hiding half of his figure from view. His hair was slicked back, his face was drawn and serious, and his menacing green eyes were leveled right on him, seemingly piercing right through him. _I wouldn't think it possible but apparently, I can be damned terrifying if I need to be… well he can at least… but damn… I really want that uniform…_

"Captain Noin… what a pleasant surprise. I've never really been fond of surprises but I will take exception to this current one. I don't usually look gift horses in the mouth either, but I have to ask… where did the Treize Faction acquire a fleet of warships from?" These questions were, of course, just a formality, the man's eyes hadn't left Kevin's for a moment.

"Admiral, it is my honor that I present to you the T.F.S. Leviathan and her escort fleet. I am honestly shocked that Treize managed to keep them hidden from you for as long as he did but I believe the answer to your question will surprise you further. You see sir… this ship was purchased from one of your allies, a rival faction within their government to be specific…" If the man was surprised to hear this he didn't show it, but he did momentarily release him from the iron grip of his gaze as his eyes flicked to Captain Noin, but only for a moment.

"So, captain, you're telling me that the Treize Faction communicated and dealt with subversive elements within the government of one of _my_ trusted allies? I'm going to assume that your two destroyers were manufactured using the onboard construction facilities of that Amarakk Carrier then?" Noin smiled and nodded in response to the questions, he was good.

"Yes sir, on both counts."

"And that Hiroshi Heavy Cruiser… Revenant Class if I'm not mistaken… that's just as old as your carrier… where did that come from?" Noin swallowed hard before responding, seemingly bracing herself for what was about to come next.

"Sir, it was purchased from elements within the Hiroshi Empire that were less then supportive of the Empress's rule. It was, just like the Leviathan, painstakingly maneuvered through your sensor nets, taking advantage of weaknesses and gaps that have since been mended." The hard gaze swung to Captain Noin, casting its shadow on her for once, Kevin felt as if he were finally able to breath fresh air for the first time in weeks. The weight of the man's gaze was suffocating. He was silent for several moments before he finally spoke, it was clear that he was upset but no hint of emotion betrayed his anger.

"I remember them. Markaan personally lead the uprising that nearly overthrew the empress in that bloody civil war several years ago… so you're telling me that Treize purchased that ship from them?" She nodded, clearly unable to speak. But to her surprise the admiral smiled. "Funny story actually, it may have been that transaction that tipped the empress off concerning the imminent coup de-ta… very interesting. It would seem that while Treize was maneuvering against me he was also aiding one of _my_ key allies, _our_ key allies, and if I remember correctly it was _you_ , Lucretzia Noin, it was you who brought the gaps in our sensor nets to my attention." Nodding once again, she relaxed when it became clear that he wasn't angry in the least concerning the treachery. But the conversation quickly turned sour once more, and once again Kevin found himself under scrutiny.

"Now we must address the elephant in the room… what is _he_ doing aboard your ship?" _You could just ask me you-._ His thoughts came to a shrieking halt, however, when the admiral glared at him even more fiercely, he had heard his thoughts, _shit._

"Sir, he's here at the pleasure of Princess Charlotte, he was commissioned as a Commander by Generals Volmer and Dubois. This appointment was ratified by Grand Duke William and Lt. Colonel Treize Kushrenada…"

"And pre-authorized by me, yes, I am well aware that the uniform that he wears suits him and suits him well… but you did not answer my question, why is he aboard _your_ ship? _That's actually a slightly different question… shit! Get out my head!_

"Sir, as to what he is doing… he is serving as my first officer… as to why he is aboard… I believe the princess is to blame but you would have to ask him, sir." The grand admiral let out a heavy sigh that creepily reminded him that the man that was staring at him so fiercely was all too similar to him, and yet so different.

"I should have known… well, commander, what do you have to say for yourself? It had better be good because the way I see it… you're disobeying a direct order, from me, by being aboard that ship."

"Uh… sir, I'm not going to hide in a bunker while the earth is in danger. That's why I'm aboard this ship, to fight." His duplicate gave him an amused but appraising glance for a moment until his cold, hard grimace returned.

"Indeed? Well effective immediately I'm transferring you to the _Night Hammer_ -."

"No, sir. I'll be better use to you here… sir." The entire bridge went eerily silent, it also seemed that the exact same thing had happened aboard the _Night Hammer_ because the admiral's eyes flicked around his surroundings for a moment, as if noticing for the first time that his conversation was being so attentively monitored. It seemed as if everyone was holding their breaths as they awaited his response.

"Oh, if you would be so kind, commander, as to tell me why that is?" Swallowing hard, Kevin desperately fought back the growing lump in his throat.

"Sir, these ships lack shields so I know that you won't be directing them into the main battle line with the rest of your fleet, they won't last very long in a stand-up fight with the enemy. Because of this, you are going to use them as a flanking force and the only place that you can possibly manage this is by placing them on the opposite side of moon from where you already know the enemy fleet will be appearing. You've organized your forces in only one sector which means you expect the enemy fleet to attack from a very specific angle, I expect you will be utilizing the gravity well generator aboard the _Surprise_ to assist in ensuring this. Due to the fact that you will be hiding this fleet out of sight of the enemy, you will also be hiding it from yourself, meaning you won't wish to send any communications towards this fleet just in case the enemy is capable of intercepting them. Therefore, you will need someone aboard that will know exactly when you want to this fleet to strike, which is why I need to be here." Kevin hadn't noticed exactly when he had started sweating but by the end of his explanation he found himself perspiring at a near-inhuman rate. Yet, thankfully, he knew that he had swayed the admiral with his explanation even before the man nodded approvingly, acknowledging his assessment without a word.

"Captain Noin, you will maneuver your fleet to these coordinates and maintain strict radio silence unless notified otherwise. If you do not receive any updates to your orders, you will defer to Commander Anderson's timing as to when you will strike the enemy, understood?" Noin crisply saluted and acknowledged her orders, beaming with pride when the admiral dismissed her. "Best of luck Captain, and congratulations on the promotion, it is certainly well deserved… you've always been my favorite among Treize's subordinates."


	9. Chapter 9: Destiny

**Chapter 9: Destiny**

"Commander Anderson…" It did have a nice ring to it, not nearly as nice as Grand Admiral Anderson, but that was beside the point. "What do you think of him?" Kevin turned towards Natasi who had joined him in his command suite. There wasn't much room, but she had grown tired of leaning down to speak privately with him.

"You only like her because she's a pretty little doe-eyed creature whose head is filled with foolish ideals… her zealous heart probably beats to the theme of-."

"Who… Captain Noin?" Natasi glared at him in response to insinuate that his question had been needless and unnecessary. Of course she had been referring to the young captain, who else? "Well if you compare her to the rest of Treize's henchmen…"

"A solid point… where do you think Colonel Zechs is hiding these days, I'm a little shocked that he isn't commanding the Leviathan…." Grimacing at the mention of the man's name, Kevin began to wonder as well. Noticing his reaction, Natasi quickly changed the subject. "Your clone… he's… you… but not… does that make any sense?"

"It makes perfect sense, those are my thoughts exactly..." His clone, even though the two had lived considerably different lives, was just like him. The resemblance was creepy. It wasn't just the way he looked, he acted and spoke just as he did. He had the same facial expressions, the same little quirks, he even sighed just like he did. However, masked behind all of these similarities there was a massive glaring difference that even Natasi could see. The dark side of the force had yet to infect his life, there was little darkness within him at all. It was comforting to think about and yet reflecting on this fact sent cold daggers of pain into his chest. _That's who I would have been if I hadn't let Kiera die…_

"What about this Hiroshi heavy cruiser…" _Damnit she noticed again… sometimes I wonder if she's force sensitive, she reads me far too well…_ Tearing his thoughts away from the past, he forced himself to focus on the matter at hand.

"I am hesitant to believe that they snuck a ship of that size, let alone two ships… down to earth without anyone noticing... but what concerns me more is Treize's involvement in the machinations against the empress… did he know that he was exposing the plot against her… or was that all just blind luck?" If Treize had known about the plot then why hadn't he just said something? Did he really have spies and agents throughout the galaxy, did his web of intrigue really spread that far? Those questions didn't really matter though, if Treize had intentionally assisted forces that had attempted to overthrow the empress… he was a dead man. The thought, however, didn't sit well with him. Such a move on Treize's part was counter to the logic that the man usually operated under. If the empress had been killed and her government overthrown then they would have lost a key ally, perhaps more.

Kevin's thoughts circled back to the whereabouts of Colonel Zechs Marquise, but before he could begin to make a search for his nemesis, Natasi saved him the effort.

"I assumed that he would be aboard the heavy cruiser… but according to this he is leading the fighter squadrons of the Leviathan… leading from the front as usual it seems… is that why they call him 'the lightning count'?"

"I prefer 'killer of his own men'… it's a more appropriate title…" Natasi suppressed a chuckle before responding. There was a story behind the name to be sure, but it wasn't a good story. It wasn't really worth retelling; the name told the tale well enough. Luckily all of the men and women who had lost their lives in that infamous operation had been members of the Treize Faction, and not Kevin's own forces. If they had been… the man wouldn't have lived long to suffer the infamy of such a waste of human lives.

"I thought you were more attached to 'the man in the iron mask' these days?" _What kind of a man hides his identity behind a mask anyway?_ The man was an enigma to be sure, perhaps only Treize knew his real identity. It didn't matter that Kevin had his own mask that he sometimes wore. _That's different though, I don't hide who I am… I use that thing to scare the shit out of people… it works too._ This was, of course, only partly true. The infamous 'Mast of Revan' was imbued with incredible power and on the rare occasion he would siphon power from the Sith artifact. Especially when he needed to perform extraordinarily devastating feats with his powers.

"That one is pretty catchy though, you have to admit… at any rate, have our scouts reported in yet concerning the enemy fleet?" Natasi abandoned her personal data-pad and leaned forward to enter in several commands into his command console. _I could have done that…_ her closeness in the cramped space had been awkward enough, but now she was practically leaning over him. Normally this wouldn't have bothered him at all, but considering the events that had unfolded in the privacy of her stateroom, her proximity embarrassed him immensely. Not seeming to notice, she finished entering the commands and leaned back, he slowly exhaled as the latest information concerning the enemy fleet flooded on the screens before him.

"Well damn… that looks like all of them… not taking chances anymore… they're really making slow progress with their retrieval efforts too… what I would give for a few more Sangheili ships right about-."

"Slipspace rupture… check… three signals… three Sangheili Destroyers have just arrived!" A ragged cheer broke out across the bridge as the three new arrivals began to maneuver towards their comrade who had arrived before them. The timing was so fortuitous that Kevin couldn't contain his almost childlike excitement as he finished his thought that he had spoken aloud.

"-now… with cloaking modules attached?" A quick scan of the newly arrived ships dashed his hopes. Their allies had the technology, although it was rarely seen on their warships these days, to make their ships disappear, completely. Once activated the cloaking module would make the ship vanish from sight, it would even become undetectable by sensors. Practically this was overkill, once the ship disappeared from sensors it was basically invisible as far as space combat was concerned but the Sangheili had apparently wanted total invisibility. They more effectively utilized this technology on their special forces ground troops, invisible ships were one thing but invisible soldiers… that was terrifying.

"If only we were that lucky… but three more Sangheili ships is certainly quite something, even if they are only destroyers." Resisting the urge to scoff at Natasi's words, he analyzed the new arrivals as they majestically performed their maneuvers. _Only destroyers… those ships are probably just as deadly as that cruiser of theirs… maybe even more so… Sangheili ship classifications are… confusing._ The ships were roughly the same length as his Star Destroyers but had significantly less mass due to their sleek, almost animalistic designs.

"Well… their formation is quite solid. Any further attacks against their fleet would result in unacceptable losses. All we can do now is hold position and hope that we bought Treize enough time to get that blasted shield generator operational." Natasi nodded in agreement as she too studied the enemy fleet.

"How did the interrogations go; did we learn anything that we can use?" Kevin let out a heavy sigh, he could have stopped there. Natasi would know that things had not gone very well at all just from his initial reaction to the question.

"We learned very little. They speak Galactic Basic, they are fanatically loyal to their people, and they come from very, very far away. We did learn one very interesting piece of information though… but it wasn't given very willingly. Let's just say I had to get very… creative with my persuasion methods..." Their prisoners had all been trained exceptionally well to resist interrogation, but with the force as his ally he had broken through some of their resolve. "These people, they are fleeing something quite terrible. The fear is there in each and every one of them. This fleet of theirs isn't just an invasion force, it's everything that they have left…"

"Are you telling me that those transports we destroyed had civilians on board? Those fools baited us with civilians?" Natasi wasn't the type to stop an attack just because civilians were in play, but that didn't mean she was evil. The thought of slaughtering thousands of unarmed combatants, especially ones that had been offered up as bait, didn't sit well with her.

"Relax, so far there are no indications that those transports had any civilians at all aboard. Many of our prisoners were crippled with guilt concerning the issue. I think it is more plausible that this fleet of theirs abandoned their home systems to whatever threat they were running from." This revelation did nothing to calm her, in fact, it had quite the opposite effect.

"Bastards… they should have fought to the last man to save their people, perhaps they are hoping that we will run like cowards instead of defending the earth… instead of defending _our_ people…"

"They aren't your people…" Kevin began, but Natasi quickly but him off before he could say anything further.

"Nor are they yours… yet here _we_ stand." She looked down at him, her face softening as she regarded him with pride.

"Yes… here we stand." _And here we all may die._

The bunker hadn't been so bad before, but now it was suffocating. Earlier, she had just wanted to get away and be alone with Chloe. Now Max just wanted to get away. She was getting far too much attention from far too many people. Her parents were understandably concerned with the situation. Thankfully, Major Elliot hadn't mentioned anything about her powers during his briefing. Either he didn't know about that part of the story or he had kindly kept those facts to himself. It was bad enough that everyone knew that she had been kidnapped, the questions concerning her harrowing adventure seemed to be endless.

Max just wanted to grab Chloe and disappear again, but her partner refused to be dragged away from the central holoprojector. Chloe wanted to know everything and the junior officers, even Captain Cage, were all too happy to accommodate her. Max had listened with interest at first as every ship orbiting the earth was explained in detail. Weapons, shield systems, tractor beams, crew complements, strike craft and more were all intimately described. It quickly became too much jargon for her to keep up with, but not her Chloe.

Wishing to devour every single morsel of information, her partner devoted every ounce of her attention to the task. She wanted to know more, always more. Who commanded which ship? What was the difference between an 'Imperial-Class' Star Destroyer and 'Victory-Class' Star Destroyer? Why didn't the Treize Faction ships have shields too? How long would it take for reinforcements to arrive? Why were the purple alien ships so awesome? Almost the entire staff of junior officers were devoting their full attention to keep up with her thirst for knowledge and yet they were still falling behind.

"So… if the bigger ships have shields, why the hell don't your fighters have them too, that doesn't make sense."

"Some of them do… but not many. The thing is that most of our strike-craft are former Imperial starfighters. The Empire wanted cheap, maneuverable fighters so shields and hyperdrive systems were only used on specific models, like our assault gunboats." As this was explained an image of the aforementioned shuttle materialized on the holoprojector. Chloe studied this for a moment but soon her brow furrowed in confusion.

"So… if shields are so awesome, why haven't you guys modified your ships?" Her new question was immediately answered by another one of the officers while the first looked momentarily at a loss for words.

"The admiral had initially wanted to do this, but most of our pilots didn't want to trade their maneuverability and speed for protection. I know, I know, they're a crazy bunch, but it takes a special kind of crazy to be a star-fighter pilot anyway, especially in those deathtraps." Max watched as her partner nodded absentmindedly in response, she knew that her attention had already shifted onto her next question.

"And this Admiral Daala chick, why is she second in command, and why does she look like a colossal bitch?" Smiling at the chaos that her lover had created, Max turned to see if her parents were still skulking nearby with more questions. They were. Joyce was also close by, seemingly lurking in wait as well. Max liked Joyce, she was really awesome, but right now she just wanted space. It seemed that even Kevin's and Kate's families were interested in speaking with her as well, _great._ Joyce caught her attention and approached. Putting on a kind face, Max did her best not to panic. Luckily, before a word could be spoken, Chloe came to the rescue.

"Mom! We found David! He's stationed aboard the Night Hammer, the freaking huge ship, you see that one! Lance here, Lance… right? Sorry that's Lance… you're… Fred? Really? Whatever… Fred say's that he's onboard somewhere so he's going to be safe and stuff. No really mom! Look, look at the size of that freaking ship! He's going to be fine!" With Joyce's attention on her daughter, Max managed to escape as a smile crept across her face. To anyone else, it would look like she was trying to comfort her worried mother but she knew better. Chloe was trying to alleviate her own fears, _you're adorable Chloe Price._

She could have remained where she was, half paying attention to the information dump that Chloe was absorbing, but she could take no more. Hours had gone by and her brain was turning to mush. However, now that she had broken away she was vulnerable again. Soon she would be approached and asked another difficult question. It was great that everyone was so concerned, but most of the questions would be about her kidnapping and she still didn't understand why it had happened, but she had a guess. From what she had heard about this Treize character, he knew everything. If he did know everything, then he knew about her powers. He had probably been worried about her using her powers to interfere with his plans, or worse, turn her into a lab rat in order to study her. The very thought made her sick and brought back the few memories that she possessed about her first abduction at the hands of Mark Jefferson.

Shivering, she pushed the memories away, buried them, even though she remembered very little, it was far too much. Looking around the room for an escape all she saw were concerned faces, she needed to get out. Frantically scanning the room, she eventually found a face that mirrored her own, Kate's. _That's it! Kate's family is smothering her like crazy! I just need to get to her… she'll totally want to escape with me!_ Of course, Max could have just excused herself and disappeared on her own, but even though she wanted a break from everything, she didn't want to be alone. After everything that had happened she may not wish to be alone ever again, but as she approached Kate and her family she pushed her worries away.

"Um, hey everyone… can I borrow Kate for a minute, that's okay right?" Before any of Kate's family could protest, Kate answered for them. Her words were clear and firm, there would be no argument.

"Absolutely Max." Kate's mother glared at her fiercely but remained silent while Kate's sisters and her father wore mixed expressions. "We'll only be a few minutes, we'll be right back." As Kate led the way out of the room Max noticed that Kevin's parents had positioned themselves on opposite ends of the room, just as they had done in the past. His father was still locked in a fierce argument with Major Elliot while his mother had joined an intense discussion that Olivia and her companions were having with Kimberly. As observant as ever, Kate tracked her gaze, smiling sadly.

"They're both really wonderful people, they are here for their son… not each other."

"Divorced?" Nodding in response, Kate's smile waned.

"It was hard on Kevin, but it happened some time before we all met so we shouldn't worry ourselves over it, he's grown past it… even if they haven't." As they spoke, the pair hastily made their way out of the crowded room before they could be accosted by anyone else. Luckily for them, they weren't as popular with the junior officers as Chloe was. Not a single one attempted to follow them. Chloe had them far too distracted it seemed.

The pair made their way into the kitchen area and without a word to each other, they began to make themselves tea. Max would have preferred coffee, but many years ago this had been their tradition. Before Kevin, before her powers, before her reunion with Chloe, she and Kate had met once a week for tea, things had certainly been simpler then. Despite the well-stocked bunker, resources for proper tea were hard to come by, but they made do. It was only after their task had been completed that they spoke once more, both with a steaming cup of tea in hand.

"How are you holding up Max?" Kate's question caught her off-guard, she stood there for a moment unable to form a response. Finally, she shrugged, shaking off the feelings that threatened to overwhelm her.

"I'm fine… I guess, you?" She watched as a bitter smile crept across Kate's face as her eyes fell to the floor.

"Yeah… me too… fine." It really didn't need to be talked about anymore. Their lives had been turned upside down in the course of a single day. Now they were hidden away in some doomsday bunker while they awaited the results for the battle of earth. Max found herself wanting to scream, she could only imagine how Kate felt. Chloe, her rock, her partner, she was down here with her, but Kate was here and Kevin was not.

"It's been a hella' insane day… for cereal." Kate's genuine laughter raised her spirits, she found herself blushing even before the teasing began.

"I don't know what's more adorable Max… the fact that Chloe has you saying 'hella' now or the fact that you still say 'cereal'." They laughed together for a while, it felt good, almost normal. However, reality could only be held at bay for a finite amount of time. The crushing weight of their current circumstances soon returned to oppress them. The silence in the room rapidly became an entity of its own, as if a third person had entered the conversation, ruining everything.

"You wanted to talk about something?" Shining through the darkness Kate found the strength within herself to banish the oppressive intruder and Max felt as if she could breathe freely once again.

"Not anything specific… I just couldn't stand being in there any longer…" Before she could explain her thoughts further, Kate nodded and gave her a knowing look.

"I know how you feel, my family won't give me any space…"

"They're just concerned…"

"Concerned about things that aren't their business!" Kate seemed shocked with herself for her sudden outburst, but after looking around to see if anyone else had heard her she continued, "It's not their business that my fiancé is a clone, or part of a secret military organization, or has powers, or anything else. It's my business! He lied to me… and yes, I'm mad about it… but he had to. You don't go around telling the truth about those kinds of things…" Suddenly Kate fixed her with a look that spoke volumes, _Kevin told her about my powers… she knows! How much did he tell her, did he tell her about… no he wouldn't… this is so not fair… she's going to make me tell her about everything that happened!_

"Kate…" Her words were lost on her friend though. Kate calmly and politely interrupted her meek interjection.

"Kevin told me Max… he told me about your powers… don't worry I won't tell anyone… it's just…" Kate struggled with her words, but Max knew where the conversation was going so she finished for her.

"You want me to tell you about everything that happened, don't you?" Kate's eyes widened with surprise and to Max's relief she shook her head.

"Goodness no Max! I wouldn't do that to you, I just want to know about Kevin and me… were things different… in the past… or however you say it?" Feelings of relief surged through her, _I won't have to tell her after all!_

"Kate, things were different before… but you and Kevin were still very much getting together. It was super adorable!" Max suddenly found herself staring at Kate's neckline. In place of her golden cross was _the_ necklace. The sapphire necklace that Kevin had given to her in the alternate timeline, the necklace that he had then given to Kate in the next timeline, and now it seemed he had doggedly done so again at some point. She had never seen Kate wear it, she always wore her golden cross.

"Thanks Max, really, it means a lot… are you okay?" Suddenly realizing that she was staring, Max averted her gaze as Kate self-consciously fingered the sapphire charm.

"It's just, I've never seen you without your cross Kate, that's all." This, of course, was only partly true. That necklace, that cursed piece of jewelry had taken her back to the reality that she had created, the reality where she had killed Chloe.

"Oh… I gave my cross to one of the soldiers…"

"You what?" Max was floored, she had thought that Kate's cross had been so precious to her, why would she just give it up like that?

"Relax Max… it will be safe, I wanted Kevin to have it… I know he doesn't really believe or share my faith… but he'll bring it back to me." Kate's words were firm and confident, but her eyes didn't seem to share the conviction. She returned her attention to her tea as she changed the subject. "Everything is going to change after this is all over, isn't it?" Nodding absentmindedly in response, Max couldn't help but smile at her friends' optimism. Kate firmly believed that victory was the only possible outcome, perhaps she couldn't come to terms with the prospect of defeat. If earth's forces lost, it would more than likely mean that Kevin was dead. For Kate's sake, she kept her morbid thoughts to herself, victory seemed unlikely at the moment, what would defeat mean for the people of earth?

One of Kate's sisters burst into the room, fervently demanding that they return to the main room. Not waiting for them to respond she rushed back with Max and Kate hot on her heels, their half-drank tea forgotten. The central room was deathly quiet and all eyes were fixed on the central holoprojector. Ships highlighted in red had appeared and the green highlighted ships protecting the earth were maneuvering to intercept them. Max's earlier suspicions were harshly confirmed, the enemy fleet vastly outnumbered the defenders. Even worse, with each passing moment more ships arrived. The room had become entombed in silence and as she drew closer to Chloe, desperately seeking comfort, the enemy fleet continued to grow in strength.

If this had been a movie, he would have been ordering his crew to raise shields, power up weapons, launch fighters, go to red alert, he would be saying something. None of this was necessary, of course, the shields were up, the weapons were standing by, and their first stage of pilots were already scrambling for their craft. His crew was ready, they didn't need him barking orders at them. This gave Kevin plenty of time to curse himself for positioning his fleet too defensively. As soon as the first enemy ship had appeared he had realized his miscalculation. His small fleet was now maneuvering to close the distance with the enemy ships, but the opportunity had been missed.

He had been correct in his assumption that the enemy fleet would approach the earth from a single direction. His enemy didn't want to bombard the planet, merely seize it, but his small fleet was in its way. If his fleet had seemed more of a threat to his enemy he would have expected them to threaten a planetary bombardment or something similar in order to force him to surrender. But his enemy wasn't overly concerned, they had a massive superiority in numbers. Their obvious plan was to throw their ships at his like a massive hammer and sweep them aside, hopefully doing minimal damage to the planet in the process.

This had all been expected, however, infuriatingly, the enemy fleet had appeared much farther away from the planet than he had wanted them to. He had activated the gravity-well generators aboard the _Surprise_ , his Immobilizer 418 Cruiser, so that the closest position that the enemy could appear from was right where he wanted them. Unfortunately, the enemy had been much more cautious than he had anticipated. Equally infuriating, the enemy fleet had also been far more foolish than he had expected.

Their ships were appearing in small groups with no apparent formation or cohesion. If his ships had been in weapons range they could have taken advantage of this, but he had been far too cautious. Even now, minutes after the first enemy had appeared at the edge of the system, their numbers weren't that overwhelming. He should have taken Natasi's advice and positioned his fleet more aggressively, he should have listened. If the shield generator was operational he would have, but it wasn't. Because of this, his enemy was slowly marshaling their forces and all he could do was watch as their numbers slowly but steadily increased as his ships lumbered towards them.

Natasi, to her credit, was doing an exemplary job of not wearing her customary 'I told you so' look that she usually wore when she turned out to be right about something. Her face was blank, staring unblinking at her monitors. Seemingly aware of his attention, she turned to meet his lingering gaze and smiled like a ruthless predator, her enemy was in sight.

Despite this, they were still a great distance away, it would be some time before the battle could begin. It was a frustratingly draining experience, slowly advancing on an enemy that you knew was out there but not yet in range. Space was just too damned big sometimes. It was important not to let the looming onset of a seemingly imminent encounter get the best of you. So, leading by example as he usually did, he left the bridge and announced that he was grabbing a meal. The bridge crew chuckled softly and the tensions that had been mounting dissipated immediately, even Natasi cracked a smile. However, hers was far more feral than the rest, she didn't care how far her enemy was from her, they were before her. It didn't matter that his trap hadn't worked, it didn't matter that they were greater in number, they were prey to her and she always got her prey, always.

Kevin was going to grab a quick snack while he had time, but he had an ulterior motive for leaving the bridge. It was time to prepare himself for battle. He didn't quite know enough about his enemy to declare that he 'knew them,' but he knew enough about them to make a solid conclusion. If he was his enemy, he would look upon his small fleet and see an opportunity. Yes, he could outmaneuver and crush them, but they were more advanced than his own ships, he would want them. The enemy was going to try to board his ships, that he felt certain of, and he certainly wouldn't be greeting them in his immaculately maintained uniform.

A short walk from the bridge was a small armory for the bridge's garrison. If the ship was boarded, there were several key areas that would have to be defended, the bridge, naturally, was one of them. The secondary bridge, engineering, the hangars, medical, life support, and the fire control center were also areas that would be turned into fortresses. The rest of the labyrinths of his massive ship would be turned into a maze of death and carnage as the attackers pushed their way through. At nineteen thousand meters the _Night Hammer_ was almost impossibly massive, he almost welcomed the thought of intruders trying to make their way through it's seemingly endless corridors, almost.

Once inside the armory he was greeted by his personal soldiers, every one of them ready for battle. Should the need arise he would personally lead them to remove intruders from his ship, but for now they were preparing their equipment for battle. Without a word Hans and Gerrard began to help him into his combat armor. It wasn't as heavy as the standard combat armor that the Treize Faction employed, he preferred mobility to the superior protection. This being said, it wasn't light either, putting it on himself was doable but incredibly time consuming. As he was methodically entombed in the full suite of body armor he met IQ's crystal clear blue eyes. In her hands she held the Mask of Revan, he had painstakingly upgraded it and customized it so that it would attach to his armored open-faced helmet.

The standard equipment for the armor had possessed a face-mask of its own but he had no need for the integrated heads-up-display, he had the force. With the force as his ally, and the incredible power imbued in his Sith artifact, he was unstoppable. It took time, but he was soon fully armored and standing before his soldiers in his full war glory, save for his mask. IQ cleared the distance between them in three deliberately slow steps and reverently handed him the final piece that would complete his transformation from a leader to a warrior. As their eyes met once again a shiver ran down his spine, her presence in the force was stronger than usual at the moment. Taking stock of the other men and women in the armory he realized that they all seemed more resolute than usual, more ruthless.

As he moved the mask into place he heard it snap into place and quickly the suit sealed itself, his suit wasn't just armored, he could survive for a limited time in the event of a hull-breach, granted the air in his suit lasted. His mask secured, he felt a disturbing tremor in the force as if the spirit of Revan was laughing in glee, it had been a long time since he had worn the mask. Through this chilling sensation he noticed something else, something far more terrifying, far more personal. A thought was brewing inside Monica's mind, had been brewing since he had accepted the mask from her. Even worse, this thought was quickly transforming into something far more dangerous, words. Before he could make any moves to stop her, he realized that it was too late.

"My lord…" Her words hauntingly escaped from her mouth as she knelt before him. A ghostly chorus echoed her words as the rest of his soldiers dropped to their knees. It had been ages since anyone had referred to him in such a way, he had forbidden it. But now, looking like a Sith warrior of old, wearing the Mask of Revan, he realized once again that he could not escape his past. Grasping his lightsaber that was attached to his belt he came to terms with his apparent destiny. He was a lord of the Sith, _the_ Lord of the Sith, his enemies would learn that before the end, no matter what end awaited him.

Returning to the bridge, Kevin easily noticed the muted silence that greeted him. A bemused smile seemed to creep its way onto Natasi's face for a brief moment, but it vanished just as quickly as it had appeared. Smiling to himself behind his mask he contemplated her reaction as he returned to his command suite. He sensed traces of pride emanating around her, but not in him. _She expected me to return to the bridge like this, she knows me far too well it seems…_ This, of course, was to be expected, who else would know him so intimately if not her?

Sliding into his chair, he checked the fleet's formation, he didn't expect to find anything wrong, it was simply a habit. The fleet was in a standard line formation with the _Night Hammer_ in the center. Its arrowed bow protruding ahead of the rest of the fleet like a deadly spear, bristling with an impossible amount of weaponry. Closest to the flagship were the three Victory-Class Star Destroyers, one on either side while the third was slightly below. The flanks of the fleet were filled out by the twelve Imperial-Class Star Destroyers, evenly distributed on either flank. The right flank was reinforced by the four Sangheili ships, giving the formation a lopsided appearance. Finishing off the formation was the interdiction cruiser which was just to the rear of the _Night Hammer_. Ideally the _Surprise_ wouldn't even be part of a battle formation, it wasn't really designed for front-line combat. Yet, he needed every ship he could get, he had to commit everything to the fight. It was all or nothing.

Captain Noin's small flotilla infuriatingly lacked shields but, luckily, they were hidden away behind the earth's single moon. When the two opposing fleets met, he expected his enemy to commit excessive numbers to attack his flanks. The right flank would hold because the Sangheili were there but his left was seemingly perilously exposed. Only the moon guarded it, seemingly desolate. As his ships maneuvered at half-speed towards the massing enemy fleet, the moon inexorably drew ever closer. Timing was everything. If Noin's fleet attacked too early they would be annihilated, if they struck too late then their impact would be negligible. This was the only reason he had allowed his clone to remain aboard the ancient _Leviathan_ , the timing was just too important. The risks were massive, he didn't really expect Noin's fleet to last very long either way. _He's expendable after all… he's just a clone…_ And yet, despite the certainty that he felt, he couldn't cast away the sinking feeling in his chest. _Damn him, he would have survived this if he had just listened to me…_

The time for worrying about such things had passed, nothing else could be done. The crew was ready, each crewman on the bridge was already in their survival suits just in case there was a hull-breach. These suits would protect them from the vacuum of space but little else, if the suits were damaged by shrapnel then its owner was as good as dead should the worst happen. Every single soldier and crewman aboard had similar protection just in case their enemies were foolish enough to board them without equal precautions. Grimacing, Kevin decided not to hope for such luck, there was no way his enemy would be so careless.

Finished with his inspection of the formation he turned his attention towards the massing mob of enemy ships. There was still no discernable formation, but as more and more ships arrived he grimly decided that there really wasn't any need for one. If his calculations were right, and no more enemy ships had arrived, his enemy outnumbered him by at least sixteen to one. Being so helplessly outnumbered crushed his spirit, _my ships are better than theirs… and I have the Sangheili too… will that be enough? Can our ships survive long enough to make a difference in this fight before we are annihilated?_

"Treize… I need that shield…" Realizing that he had spoken aloud he cut himself off. Modulated and synthesized, the sound of his voice sent shivers down his spine.

"Sir?" Obviously pretending that she hadn't heard him, even though it was quite impossible that she hadn't, Natasi got up from her chair and slowly made her way towards him. Before he could respond he noticed that his enemies' largest ship had just arrived. Big ships were almost always command ships, his new nemesis would most certainly be aboard, it was time to meet his enemy.

"Admiral, hail the lead ship if you would please, I think it's time that we had a word or two with our enemy, feel free to show your fangs… and if necessary, your claws too." Her face was once again decorated by her feral smile and she quickly returned to her command chair as she gave out the necessary orders. It didn't take long for a response either, barely had she returned to her seat when the communications officer made his report.

"Ma'am, they've returned our ping and appear to be trying to establish a two-dimensional video link with our software… shall I send it through?" Natasi nodded and composed herself, setting herself regally into her command chair as she adopted a very menacing demeanor. It took several moments and an intense debate could soon be heard from the communications suite as the crewmen and their officer worked their magic adapting the enemy signal to their software. Just when it seemed that the frustration had reached a boiling point, the holoprojector in front of Natasi came to life. But instead of a three-dimensional image a 'flat' two-dimensional projection was created in front of her. The image was also redirected to one of his own displays and he was far from impressed.

The man in the image slouched lazily in a massive chair that was more akin to a throne. He was red-faced, balding, and massively overweight, _his chins even have chins_. A bored expression shrouded his entirely unimpressed face. His uniform was extravagant and entirely covered with medals, citations and accolades. When he shifted in his seat Kevin was almost certain he heard them jingle noisily. _Can this… can this really be the mastermind behind that ambush… I allowed him to force me to abandon one of my ships… he is the one responsible for the deaths of my people? Impossible!_ He felt his face flush with anger and he found his black-gloved hands tighten into fists. Fortunately, he was distracted from his rising fury when Natasi took the initiative and spoke first.

"I am Admiral Daala of the Imperial Navy… of Earth…" _Old habits are hard to break… but I guess now the Earth has an Imperial Navy… good recovery._ "Your ships have entered into a protected zone, retreat or you will be fired upon and more of your pathetic ships will be destroyed." Kevin felt a wave of enthusiasm sweep throughout the bridge as she spoke. Natasi's words were filled with ire, she finished off her threat with a predatory smile, her eyes glaring venomously at the pompous figure before her.

"Your puny transgressions have already been noted…" The man replied lazily as he stifled a yawn. "I am the Grand Marshall of the mighty fleet that stands before you. I am the First of the Founders, Lord of the Pinnacle, Sovereign of the Dominion, Magnate of the Imperator…" Kevin ceased paying attention as the man continued to spout out title after title, each one apparently more impressive than the last but none of them meant a thing to him. Natasi, clearly just as uninterested as he was, stifled her own yawn as their enemy prattled on. He probably would have done so for quite some time, but Natasi's display of boredom caught his attention and he cut himself short.

The bulbous man became immediately overwhelmed in a fit of rage, gobs of spittle flew forth from his mouth as he screamed at Natasi's obvious disrespect.

"How dare you bitch! I am the Grand Marshall of… you little slut! How dare you disrespect me! I would expect nothing less from a woman! I will not forgive your insolence!" Just as suddenly he calmed down as he eyed Natasi with an impish and vulgar look. "But… I might just spare the lives of your soldiers… should you manage to please me like the good little whore… that…"

As the man's words droned off his face burned bright red and he began to choke desperately for a breath. After a few failed attempts his face immediately paled and his entire bulging form began to shake uncontrollably, his medals jingling raucously as he struggled to remain upright. Just as quickly as the man's struggle started it ended as his lifeless body collapsed into his throne. Moments later the video feed cut to black as a stream of saliva began to stream out of his gaping mouth.

"Begging your pardon 'Grand Marshall,' but you appear to be suffering technical difficulties… don't worry, I'll wait." Natasi responded playfully but her face turned deadly serious once the communication line cut off entirely. Kevin could feel her eyes burning a hole into the back of his head as she approached him, her fury was evident. The bridge crew became instantly silent and their conversations abruptly died as she made her way to his command suite, all eyes turned away and pretended not to notice the maelstrom that was about to be unleashed.

"What the hell were you thinking?" He turned towards her as she threw herself down next to him, not even bothering to lower her voice, she shouted directly into his masked face. Shuddering as he processed what had just happened he felt a crippling weakness take over his body as his strength left him. He barely remembered doing anything. One moment the man had been shouting and then he had collapsed. _No… he didn't collapse… I reached out and crushed his damned heart… it was so… easy._ Despite the ease at which he had ended the man's life, he was glad that he was wearing his mask, he felt feint and was struggling to maintain consciousness. "Well? Take off that damned mask, don't you dare hide from me!" Natasi spoke much quieter now, but her hostile tone had intensified. Suddenly he felt a presence lending him strength, as if rewarding him for his actions.

All at once his weakness vanished and he felt stronger than he had ever felt. Shocked by the sudden reversal of his state, he sensed a whisper of a presence inside of his mind. _Well done… well done!_ The ghost of Revan, it seemed, was pleased. Feeling revitalized he prepared to remove the mask but cut his movements short when the feelings of fatigue momentarily returned. It seemed that he was entirely dependent on the power of the mask for the time being, removing it just wasn't an option.

"Admiral, may I direct your attention to the composition of the enemy fleet." Natasi's fury intensified and her aura burned fiercely for a moment, but she restrained herself from a second outburst. Hesitating a moment to glare at him, she slowly tuned her attention towards the display that he was motioning towards. "As you will notice, every single one of their battleship-class ships is unique, each with its own personality and flair. Our enemy, it seems, uses a hierarchical structure of leadership far different from our own. The commanders of these ships are all next in line to be the leaders of this fleet, do you see how each of these battleships has a supporting fleet around it?" The enemy fleet didn't have a cohesive formation, but when you focused on the battleships, micro-formations could be seen. There were a dozen battleships in all and each had their own fleet martialed around them. The largest ship, the command dreadnaught also had a supporting fleet but none of this had been discernable before, it was almost as if he were looking at the enemy fleet through a new set of eyes.

"So… what are you saying…?" Her words were calm, the fury that had burned brightly within her had mostly abated.

"These twelve commanders, due to their seemingly equal powerbase, must now struggle against one another to become the next leader of the fleet. They are going to be rallying for support, calling in favors, threatening rivals, plotting, perhaps even performing assassinations… if we're lucky we might even get to watch as these micro-fleets turn their ships against each other. If you need confirmation on this, I would monitor the levels of communications between the enemy ships. You will find that the numbers of communications between the dreadnaught and all of these battleships will have increased dramatically.

She did as he suggested and within a few moments the communications officer confirmed this. The enemy capital ships hadn't been communicating with each other at all, but now there was an overwhelming amount of chatter between the thirteen ships. Most of the communications were 'open-air' and not encrypted. However, a few were clearly meant to be extremely secret and were done through sub-standard channels and frequencies. These were most likely the plots and backroom dealings that Kevin had suspected, unfortunately there were very few of them. His enemy, it seemed, wasn't as backhanded as he had hoped.

"When were you planning on sharing these conclusions of yours, or do you expect me to be just as clever as you in these matters?"

"Honestly, I just figured all of this out, that buffoon wasn't saying anything worthwhile anyway…"

"So… you killed him with your mind, yes I saw that… I… didn't know you could do something like that… what… did you do?"

"I crushed his heart…" She made a sudden face of revulsion that was just as quickly replaced by a devious smile. Yet, no matter how quickly she had hidden her reaction, he had noticed it. She was fearful of the extent of his power, he had done some incredible things with his powers in the past, but never anything that brutal.

He knew exactly what had gone through her mind. The thought was most certainly being shared by the rest of the bridge crew that had witnessed the altercation. Soon, everyone in his fleet would share this troubling thought as the news inexorably spread. Like a plague it would seep down to earth and soon Treize would be thinking the same thing. _If Kevin could crush a man's heart at such a distance with seemingly no effort, what else was he capable of… how dangerous had he really become?_ There was certainly no doubt about the power that existed inside of him, but then again, there never had been.

"Aren't you always telling me that you don't understand politics? And yet here you are…figuring out the politics behind an enemy fleet in very little time…" Redirecting the conversation to something more lighthearted, Natasi expertly redirected his thoughts away from the encroaching darkness that his mind had been hurtling towards.

"I don't understand politics… it was just a guess anyway…" She scoffed at his feeble response, but her face soon turned playful and she leaned in close to him and whispered in a hushed voice.

"You and I both know the real reason you crushed that pigs heart… he was saying mean things about your mommy..." Withdrawing she winked at him just before her face returned to its natural state, cold and unforgiving. Kevin felt his face flush with color and suddenly he wished nothing more than to remove his mask, but he dared not. His face was bright red and to reveal this would be detrimental to his feeble explanation for his rash actions.

As Natasi climbed out of his command suite, he desired nothing more than to escape and fortunately for him he was suddenly starving. Not daring to remove his mask, should his newfound strength suddenly vanish, he stood and made his way towards the exit of the bridge. Casually announcing to the crew that he was heading off in search of another meal, he announced that this time he was taking orders.

"What does everyone want from the drive-through, I'm buying." All too quickly the crewman and a few of the officers were shouting out orders. Each successive suggestion became more ludicrous than the one that preceded it. The gag went on for some time until, finally, a confused looking crewman couldn't tolerate the excitement any longer.

"What the hell is a blasted 'drive-through'?" The crew erupted in a cacophony of laughter as Kevin made his way off of the bridge. The jovial atmosphere was cut short when the blast doors clamped shut behind him. The two troopers who were standing guard outside of the bridge seemed flustered at first when the raucous atmosphere that had erupted on the bridge caught them off-guard. They settled down however once the disturbance was gone, one of them shrugging while the other shook his white-helmeted head as he did his best not to chuckle himself. Now there was something else that would be spreading throughout the fleet other than his shocking display of his power. Crew morale improved, check.

A cold, numbing feeling of dread clutched at his heart so suddenly that Kevin nearly lost his footing. Gasping audibly in shock he steadied himself and sought out the nearest chair, all too aware of the stares that followed him. Collapsing into the sanctuary of the semi-comfortable seat he forced his breathing to normalize. Several long moments later he felt the approaching presence of the compassionate Captain Noin, her words were quiet and staggered.

"Did… did the grand admiral just… you felt it didn't you… you felt his power?" Struggling to respond with a steady nod he performed a poor mimicry of the motion, but the message was clear. Kevin had no doubt in his mind what he had just felt. For years he had sensed it, been touched by it, resisted it, but now it overwhelmed him. There had always been darkness within the man he had been cloned from, it had always been there, waiting. Now it was being unleashed.

A cold sweat had broken out over his entire body as a sudden realization overcame his terrified consciousness. _All of the weapons that our fleet possesses are nothing compared to that power…_ Despite the horrifying effect that this incredible power had wrought on him, he knew with grim certainty that it was but a herald of greater things to come. He needed to shield himself from the effects of this monstrous force. _But how?_ Shaking his head uncertainly against his own thoughts, he felt a sense of foreboding certainty that if he did not protect himself he would be consumed by the growing darkness.

"What… what do you know about his…our powers?" His words were shaky and weak, barely audible. The young captain paused a moment before answering, keenly aware that every crewman was doing their best to listen in to their quiet conversation.

"Very little… but I think it's called 'the force'." _The force? That's a… fitting yet stupid name._ Clearly noticing his confused reaction, she continued. "Apparently there are two sides of this power… one light… one dark, each side championed by a different group… the Jedi… and the Sith. He never told you any of this… did he?" Kevin shook his head in a slow and mechanical motion, any explanation concerning his powers had always been frustratingly vague.

"He… the grand admiral… he's no Jedi… or whatever…" Noin nodded, almost sadly. His words seemingly stung her, as if he had accused their leader of something horrible.

"Apparently, years ago, someone named Darth Vader slaughtered the Jedi to near extinction. It's said that there used to be hundreds of them, if not thousands. Now… very few remain." Recognizing the name of his master's former master he shivered. _So, if my master is most certainly not a Jedi… what does that make me? A Sith? No… he teaches me not to use the darker sides of my powers, he forbids it… does he not want me to be as powerful as him, is he afraid of that?_

Shaking his head, he immediately cast the thought back to the darkness from where it had originated. His master hated the darkness, loathed it, and would probably seek it out wherever he found it…to destroy it. However, the fate of the Earth and all of its people were in danger. Clearly his master thought that the darkness was too powerful of a weapon not to be used. Such a dreadful power being used for the powers of good… did that make any difference? _Good and evil are trivial notions at the moment, all that matters is victory._

"You know something else… you're holding something back, Captain Noin." Obviously not surprised that he had caught onto her deception, she smiled playfully and signaled to a crewman who was standing idly by the entrance to the bridge. Recognizing Ensign Haratio, Kevin watched as the young man proudly crossed the room, his steps full of purpose. In his hands he reverently held an ornate black box, something very precious was inside. Kevin rose to his feet, struggling only somewhat against his retreating weakness.

Full of pomp and ceremony Haratio stood at attention before him. Kevin's curiosity and confusion had now reached a boiling point. Despite this, his hands drew towards the mysterious case with agonizing slowness, as if they were afraid of what they might find inside. The case soundlessly opened and as its contents were revealed, he couldn't help but smile.

Inside were two objects, both of which he was intimately familiar with, though the presence of one of them surprised him. Kate's golden cross lay serenely next to a cylindrical object that had been promised to him 'when he was ready.' That day had clearly come, finally. Reaching inside he collected Kate's revered talisman with one hand and his lightsaber with the other. Each object flooded his body with a surge of emotions. Kate's cross was imbued with her comforting presence, warming him as if he were once again in her arms. The lightsaber, now his, flooded him with confidence and power, he was ready.

One of his first lessons under his master had been the agonizing construction of this weapon. However, once he had finally finished constructing the device it had been taken from him. Promising that it would be returned when he was ready, his master had dared him to object. He hadn't. The construction of the device hadn't been a mundane engineering matter, it had been a spiritual one. Once it had been completed he felt as if he had constructed an extension to himself, having it taken from him robbed him of that sensation.

Feeling whole once again, he clipped the lightsaber to his belt and hung Kate's cross around his neck. Tucking it underneath his uniform, he forcefully buried the cyclone of emotions that brewed within him. Not sure if he had been successful or not, he quickly decided that the outcome of his heroic efforts mattered not. Every single crewman on the bridge was looking at him as if he were a god, the experience was empowering, yet humbling.

Kevin was now certain that no matter what darkness the future had in store for him, he would be ready. The cross that now hung around his neck would be his shield, his light, his hope. A constant reminder of exactly what he was fighting for. The lightsaber, _his_ lightsaber, that now hung at his side would be his weapon against the oncoming darkness. It's piercing red blade capable of warding off any attack, parrying any blow, vanquishing any enemy. Fear no longer clutched at his heart, he was ready.


	10. Chapter 10: The Battle for Earth

Having eaten a real meal this time, Kevin returned to the bridge. His rash stunt had already bought them precious hours while the enemy fleet deliberated on a new leader, but how much longer would their reprieve last? It had been a struggle to eat, removing the mask had been difficult. His own strength was still dubious, the mask was now his crutch. He had eaten as quickly as his shaking limbs had allowed him to. During his hasty meal the ghost of Revan's mocking laughter echoed through his head, his pitiful display of weakness clearly amused him.

Wearing the mask once again, he felt unstoppable. His weakness was now a distant memory. The bridge was calm, almost relaxed. A stark contrast to the perilous predicament that the men and women under his command found themselves in. Heartbreakingly outnumbered, the fate of his fleet hung on a knife's edge, at any moment disaster could strike. His enemy would pay in blood to take earth, they had to know this, but how much blood was acceptable to them?

He had to drive this point home. His enemy knew what his ships were capable of even though they were heavily outnumbered. Previously they had been given a taste of their capabilities, but now they faced the entire might of his forces. Unfortunately, in the previous skirmish his enemy had learned that his forces weren't invincible. Even though they had paid a heavy cost for the destruction of one of his ships, they had seemingly paid for it gladly.

The communications officer on duty brought him out of his musings, the enemy was ready to talk once more. He had been heading for his command suite, but he changed direction and placed himself behind and to the right of Natasi's command chair. Standing at attention, masked and in full combat gear, he would be seen as a subordinate, or perhaps even a body-guard. Natasi, not even bothering to acknowledge his presence, waved to the communications officer, signaling him to open the channel.

The image that materialized before them was of a man who was starkly different from the previous communication. _This is my enemy_ … The man was thin and bony, his face shrewd, composure rigid, eyes cunning and intelligent. His uniform was just as lavishly decorated as his predecessor, but he seemed ill at ease in the gaudy dress. It was immediately evident that this man preferred simple things, he was probably the real mastermind behind his enemies' tactics. The previous commander had probably gotten in the way with his foolishness, it had probably been his blunder allowing their transports to be part of the trap.

The shrewd man regarded him with his cold, calculating stare for a short moment before fixing his gaze on Natasi. A wry smile crossed his thin lips as he introduced himself, almost courteously.

"I am the new commander of the mighty fleet that stands before you, you may call me Jenn." Bowing slightly, it was obvious that he was doing his best to placate Natasi, perhaps even apologize for his predecessor's attitude towards her. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't talking to a reasonable being, he was speaking to Admiral Natasi Daala.

"Jenn? That's a girl's name, it's short for Jennifer. Since we're being so formal with curtsies and flowers shouldn't you use your full name?" The man's right eye twitched in annoyance, but he showed no other signs of irritation. His smile widened slightly, revealing perfectly straight, unnaturally white teeth. Natasi returned his smile with her own predatory smirk and the two sized each other up for several moments.

"Bloodshed is unnecessary, if your fleet surrenders you have my word that your lives will be spared and our rule will not be harsh, granted that you cooperate with your new masters." Scoffing at this, Natasi rolled her eyes, visibly annoyed.

"You're right, bloodshed is unnecessary. It would also be a shame to turn your 'mighty' fleet into scrap. You see, it would be such a bother cleaning up the mess afterwards." It was at this moment that Kevin detected something akin to doubt cloud the man's mind. Perhaps he was calculating how many ships he would lose in the battle; would he lose too many? Would the blood price be too great? It was time for him to speak up.

"Victory or defeat, your losses will be staggering," Kevin's modulated voice visibly shocked the man named Jenn for a moment, but his cold and calculating gaze soon returned, fixing itself on him as he continued to speak. "Your fleet will die here. We know that you are looking for a new home, this will not be it. This will be your end. However, there are other worlds out there, worlds that are not ours, worlds that are less defended than ours, if defended at all." Jenn thought long and hard on this for a moment, but shook his head, eyeing his masked opponent with distrust.

"Even if I were to play along with your games, how could I trust a being that hides behind a mask… what… who is that ghastly creature behind you?" This question was directed towards Natasi, as if Kevin had ceased to exist.

"He is Darth… Revan, Lord of the Sith. It would be wise of you, Jenn, to grovel in his presence." Her harsh words seemingly had no effect on Jenn. Clearly, he had never heard of the Sith nor was familiar with Jedi or the force, _a pity._

"Trust this: our ships stand ready to unleash devastation and destruction upon you, we-."

" _We_ have you outnumbered, significantly." _Cut me off will you? Your feeble numbers are meaningless!_

"Numbers alone do not confer an advantage." It was hopeless. Kevin was using his powers to seed his enemies' mind with doubt and fear, but his mind seemed stubbornly resistant to his subversive attacks.

"Is that so? This conversation has ceased to amuse me, you have three minutes to surrender." The communication ended and Natasi turned in her command chair to face him. Somehow, she instantly read his mood, she nodded. Turning away, she called out to her weapons officer, giving him permission to fire.

During the conversation the _Night Hammer_ had aligned itself to the enemy command ship, it was now doomed. Moments later the enemy dreadnought exploded as the deadly destructive energy from the prototype death star laser annihilated it. The enemy was once again robbed of their leader, their real leader and the battle for earth had begun.

"Holy shit!" Chloe's voice sent a shockwave through the room, all eyes turned towards the holoprojector. There had been no warning at all. One moment the two opposing sides had been staring each other down like they had been for hours and then suddenly the _Night Hammer_ had fired its main weapon, obliterating the largest enemy ship entirely.

As if this had been a signal, the other ships protecting the earth opened fire with all of their weapons. The weapons from the four Sangheili ships immediately took their toll, their damage easily apparent. The enemy fleet returned fire, their initial barrage dissipating harmlessly against the defenders' shields. Even though the turbolaser batteries from the Star Destroyers were most certainly inflicting heavy damage on the attackers, it was near impossible to tell.

Max was by her side in an instant and seemed as if she were about to say something, but a series of alerts cut her off as she opened her mouth. Blaring alarms shocked the room's occupants but they were immediately silenced by one of the officers.

"Radiological alarm!" The cry had come from one of the younger officers and his warning sent a fresh wave of panic through the room.

"My god they're going to nuke us! Barbarians!" Walter's response rang true and loud above the rest of the panicked cries. Strangely enough it was Max who called out above the chaos.

"No! Look!" Following Max's outstretched arm, Chloe immediately found the source of the warnings. The instantly recognizable yellow and black circular radiological warning signs were flashing next to many of the defenders' ships. The only ships that didn't have this warning sign were the Sangheili ships, but if Chloe had understood the brief descriptions of their weaponry, they didn't need nukes.

"Holy shit, they're packing nukes! How did I miss that?" Chloe's words were lost as the battle intensified. The opposing fleets drew closer together, the chaos of destruction mercilessly intensified between them. Hundreds of missiles burst forth from the defending Star Destroyers, the hologram struggling to track each projectile's path. Hidden amongst this barrage were more than a dozen flashing radiological warning signs, the entire room held its breath.

A dazzling display of explosions rippled through the massive enemy fleet. Entire squadrons of strike craft simply vanished. The larger ships weathered the storm while their smaller supporting ships blew apart. As the enemy fleet was pummeled the defenders advanced, flanked by thousands of strike craft. It was hard to tell with so much chaos unfolding before her eyes, but it seemed as if the defenders now held the numerical advantage in strike craft.

Swarms of interceptors cleared the way to the enemy fleet, easily throwing aside their enemy counter-parts. Bombers and attack shuttles were now clear to begin their attack runs on the enemy capital ships. Rockets and bombs tore through armor, putting more and more of their adversaries out of the fight. Finding herself on the edge of her seat, Chloe's breath caught deep inside her burning chest.

The defenders had struck hard and fast, unleashing a torrent of devastation and destruction on the enemy fleet, unlike anything she had ever seen before. Seconds ago, she had felt like cheering. Victory had seemed so assured. Looking at the bigger picture, however, she realized just how desperate the fight still was. The invading fleet had been bloodied, but their numbers were still staggering. Quickly scanning the status of the defending fleet her grim feelings multiplied, she was soon rigid with horror. The defending ships had shields, but they were dropping, fast.

Recovering from the sudden assault, the enemy fleet began to spread out in a wide semi-circle, like an umbrella. As they slowly enveloped the defenders their formation became lopsided, the four Sangheili ships were carving a path of destruction in their wake. The attackers' left flank was being cut to ribbons as the Sangheili continued to advance from the defenders' right. Supported by strike craft of their own, the purple ships tore through their enemies, driving deeper and deeper into their formation.

Realizing the danger, the enemy fleet shifted. Ships began to break formation and converge on the small, yet seemingly unstoppable Sangheili flotilla. The umbrella fractured and became even more lopsided as ships from their right scrambled to the left. The defenders had been on the verge of being completely enveloped but the daring charge by their allies had countered this maneuver. However, the Sangheili now found themselves under withering fire. As she watched the events unfold before her eyes, Chloe finally forced some air into her burning lungs.

Her sudden breath startled Max, but she quickly recovered. Her partner cast her a worried look, her thoughts clearly shared her own. _How much punishment could the Sangheili take until their shields collapsed and their ships were destroyed?_

"What the hell are you doing shipmaster?" The plan had been for the Sangheili to hold the right flank, not charge ahead into the enemy fleet. Yes, their sudden push had thrown the enemy formation into disarray and pressure had been taken off of his own ships. But now damn near half of the enemy fleet was targeting the Sangheili, they couldn't last long under such a torrent of fire.

The hologram of Shipmaster Ryvu gave him a bemused look as his toothy mandibles twitched while he pondered his response.

"We are… engaging the enemy on all sides, Honored Arbiter." _God damnit you've gotten yourself surrounded… wait… he meant to do that… he intentionally got their attention._ As if he had spoken to the shipmaster, the mighty being nodded. "The infidels dared to ignore us, I do not enjoy being ignored!"

"Nor do I, shipmaster, nor do I…" Until the shipmaster's bold maneuver, the enemy fleet had focused their fire on his smaller Star-Destroyers, their shields were failing fast. Their rapid advance on the enemy had turned into an abrupt route, his ships retreating as quickly as they could manage while still facing the enemy. Inspired by the shipmaster's bold maneuver he called out to Natasi.

"Admiral, are all of our weapons able to engage the enemy?" Momentarily puzzled she frowned, but soon shook her head, her red hair cascading around her shoulders as she did so.

"No sir, at our current position about… forty percent of our weapons lack the proper firing envelopes to engage the enemy." _Time to show our enemy the consequences of 'ignoring' the Night Hammer._

"Helm, engines at maximum! Do not stop until every battery has ample targets! Once we're in position cut the engines and switch all power to weapons!" Turning to the weapons officer, he quickly nodded and gestured towards the enemy fleet. "While we're maneuvering feel free to blast any of their battleships with the man gun. Once we get their attention I have a feeling that we'll need all of the reserve power for our shields, better use it while we can." The man smiled grimly, the message was clear. Take out as many of their remaining command ships as possible, but don't waste any power on lesser targets. Their enemy may be ignoring them at the moment, but that was almost certainly about to change.

"Damnit!" Kevin swore as he watched the enemy fleet react to the Sangheili attack. The attacking fleet was shifting to meet them with overwhelming force. Even though this bold maneuver was buying the main fleet precious time, it had left the _Leviathan_ and her ships without targets. Rendered almost entirely ineffective, their position was now utterly pointless.

"So much for our flanking maneuver…" Captain Noin seemed equally deflated by the situation. If their ships had proper shielding or thicker armor perhaps their options would be more open. But that was not so, their ships were old, unshielded, and completely out of position. Maneuvering to join the fight would expose them and now the enemy fleet would have ample time to react to their sudden appearance. Even worse, with the entire fleet thoroughly engaged with the enemy, any action that they made would be done without support.

"We can't just sit here… we need to do something…" Keeping his voice low so only Noin would hear him, he sighed heavily. He knew that his words were in vain, there was nothing they could do right now, rash advances at this point would only result in their destruction.

"I agree… but unfortunately we have to do exactly that… sometimes the right thing to do is the hardest-."

"I know… I know… doesn't mean I have to like it… where the hell are our reinforcements… where the hell is that energy shield… damnit this waiting is infuriating! I came up here to fight, not watch!" Realizing that he had spoken too loudly, he forced himself to relax, all eyes were on him again. Surprising him once more, Noin smiled at him and placed a white-gloved hand on his shoulder, squeezing it hard.

"We all did… we must be patient. The time is not yet right… but my orders are to listen to you… if you tell me to engage… I will." Suddenly, Kevin felt the entire weight of the massive ship and her support fleet resting on his shoulders. _If I tell her to attack now… she'll listen… I would get us all killed… the success of our attack is all on me… but we can't just sit here and watch our fleet get torn to pieces!_ Turning back towards the holographic display that was updating every few seconds, he frowned. Due to their position the satellites were having difficulty relaying the information to their fleet, he would always be a few seconds behind the action so long as they remained hidden away like this.

Clearing his mind, he reached out with his feelings, perhaps the answer of when to act would be presented to him if he just focused. Millions of minds clashed in a cacophony of noise as he stretched his awareness farther, the mounting tension of the two clashing fleets overwhelmed him as he tried to sift through the chaos. Suddenly a tranquil, demanding voice exploded into his mind, calming and terrifying him all at once.

"Not yet." The voice's power reverberated through his mind, breaking his focus. His eyes shot open as he let out an involuntary gasp of air, Noin was looking at him with thinly veiled concern. The bridge had grown quiet. Once again, all eyes were on him.

"What did you see?" _Damnit why must they look at me like that, I'm not a god… how long was I standing here… not that long right? Barely anything has changed… wait… what the hell is he doing!_ His mouth agape in surprise he watched as the holoprojector updated once again, the _Night Hammer_ was breaking formation and charging the enemy. Alone. Aside from the now entirely overwhelmed Sangheili the rest of the fleet was in full retreat, their shields low and fluctuating at dangerously low levels.

Focusing on the _Night Hammer_ he noticed that her shields had barely been touched, the enemy fleet was ignoring her, choosing instead to focus their attacks on the smaller defending ships. The enemy had probably tried to ignore the Sangheili ships as well, but the proud aliens had clearly taken offense. Firing its main weapon, the _Night Hammer_ obliterated an enemy battleship and let loose several barrages of missiles while more and more of her batteries unleashed destruction upon the enemy fleet. As the ship continued to maneuver, it became abundantly clear what was happening. Kevin smiled.

"The closer she gets to the enemy fleet the more dangerous she is… and yet she's exposing herself, as if she's inviting the enemy to attack her… clever."

"How is that clever?" Noin asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"The enemy plan up to this point has been to attack our weaker ships first, if we had been on the line we would have been their first target… which is why we are not. The Sangheili ruined this plan by charging into the enemy fleet, surrounding themselves, their ships can take the abuse better than ours. Now the grand admiral is doing the same thing, if he can draw enough attention away from the fleet, our Star Destroyers will get some relief and will be able to fight longer. If the enemy fleet continues to ignore the _Night Hammer,_ she is going to punish them for it… see, look! The enemy fleet is shying away from her!"

A bulge was slowly forming in the enemy formation as the _Night Hammer_ advanced towards them, the enemy ships were desperately trying to shy away from her ever-increasing firing envelopes. There was nowhere to run. The Super-Star Destroyers' seemingly endless array of weaponry spat forth in a wide arc around the massive ship. The main gun fired again, obliterating another enemy battleship, but still the enemy remained focused on the Sangheili and the rest of the defending fleet. Suddenly, everything changed in an instant. Kevin saw the opening he had been impatiently waiting for.

"Captain Noin! Engines at full!" The young captain nodded and gave the orders, shouting to be heard above the cheering crew. The time of inaction had passed. Cheering to rid themselves of their fears, the crew prepared to face their enemy. Kevin clutched Kate's cross, soon they would be committed to their attack, soon they would be upon the enemy, soon they could all die. Joining his voice with the others he tried in vain not to think of Kate. He felt her presence easily, despite the vast distance that separated them.

Her worries suddenly became his own. Clutching her cross through his uniform harder he raised his voice once more, causing a second round of cheers to erupt throughout the bridge. Even though he had shut his mind from the momentary connection he had made with Kate, her words still echoed throughout his mind. _God, please bring him back to me… he can't die… he just can't… don't die Kevin, please don't die… survive… you have to survive._

Blinking in momentary confusion, Chloe felt the feint strings of panic tug at her heart when the Sangheili ships suddenly vanished. The room breathed a collective sigh of relief when they reappeared almost instantly on the opposite flank of the enemy fleet. The enemy formation was slowly being split in two as the enemy ships did their best to pull away from the advancing _Night Hammer_. However, due to the sudden maneuver by the Sangheili ships, a majority of the enemy fleet was now without a target. The enemy had once again been outmaneuvered by the purple ships who were now attacking the enemies' exposed left flank.

All at once the situation changed, murmurs and gasps exploded around her as she watched the enemy fleet switch gears. The main line of the defenders was now entirely forgotten, every ship that was being threatened by the _Night Hammer's_ extensive weaponry suddenly turned their attention towards her. Hundreds of ships stopped maneuvering away from her and attacked, eager to punish the massive ship for her reckless charge.

The section of the fleet that had been attacking the Sangheili ships had other ideas though. Their prey had eluded them and they clearly would not be satisfied until the purple ships were destroyed. A large host of ships reformed and maneuvered for all they were worth to the opposite flank where their comrades were being slaughtered by the combined force of the entire enemy fleet. The enemies' left flank was being harassed by the still retreating main line of the defenders while at the same time the _Night Hammer's_ gunners harried them. And now, the fanatical Sangheili were upon them, their superior weapons blasting through their foes.

"Hella yes! Those Sangheili are going to win the battle all on their own! Look at them go Max!" Her partner, clearly not as enthusiastic about the battle before them, did her best to manufacture some excitement. Max looked entirely too worried, sure the defenders were still massively outnumbered but they were kicking the shit out of the enemy! How much longer would the battle last at this rate? It was as good as won!

Before Chloe could correct her partner's attitude, disaster struck. The room exploded with concern and she found herself gasping in shock as she watched one of the purple ships tear itself apart by a series of internal explosions. The final blast entirely consumed the ship, damaging several of the nearby enemy ships in a supernova of destruction. Like a star the ship had shone brightly in life and met its death with fire and passion.

"No…" She was unsure who had spoken, perhaps it had been Max, or maybe the nearby Kate… hell, it could have even been her. All she knew right now was that the Sangheili's ships were now in full retreat, leaving the dust of their former comrade behind them.

"No!" It had definitely been her, at least this time. Dozens of enemy ships took up the pursuit of the retreating ships, but most broke off to join in the attack of the _Night Hammer_ , which was now slowly retreating herself. The rest of the defending fleet seemed to be holding fast, licking their wounds from earlier before they would be forced to fight once more. The ships seemed to be in bad shape, their shields were low and slowly recharging and several had taken damage to their hulls. Even worse, the torrent of fire that had previously been pouring out from the _Night Hammer_ seemed to have slackened off.

Focusing her attention on the ship, she noted that sections of her forward shields were being slowly drained as more and more enemy ships focused their attacks on her. This wasn't fair, things had been going so well, now it felt as if the very life had been sucked out of her. What would happen if the defenders lost? Would they come for them next? Would they rule the earth with an iron fist, oppressing their new subjects mercilessly? As Max pressed herself closer to her, she glared at the holoprojector before her.

If the enemy won, if the defenders failed to protect them, then it would be up to her to protect Max. She didn't care who these guys were, not one bit. She was deadly certain that they would never harm her partner, not while she lived at least.

"Full power to shields! Intensify forward battery fire, nothing gets through, you hear me? Nothing!" Natasi was now entirely overwhelmed with fury. "Coordinate battery fire, rip them to shreds!" Earlier she had instructed their gunners to attack as many of the enemy ships as possible in their desperate bid to draw attention away from their beleaguered fleet. They had that attention now, a worrying amount of attention actually. The gunners were switching tactics, they would now be working together to engage the fewest number of targets, destroying them as quickly as possible.

Kevin was doing his best to effectively coordinate the strike craft with their attacks, constantly updating them on targets that required their attention.

"Delta, move to engage hostiles in sector five, Blue squadron will provide cover… Tau squadron… form up with Echo and Sigma for an immediate attack on battleship seven… Gold squadron, return and rearm… Green squadron, Red squadron, Black squadron, engage enemy fighters in sector two, the Sangheili need your help now!"

Somehow, it was still unknown and he didn't have a spare second to investigate, one of the Sangheili destroyers had been destroyed. The ship's shields must have failed and a lucky shot must have damaged the power core, which tore the ship apart. Despite the tragedy it did give the Sangheili a perfect excuse to appear to be retreating towards the trap that he hoped was about to be sprung in the orbit of the earth's moon. The timing would have to be perfect, unfortunately the critical maneuver wasn't on him. His thoughts were torn away from the situation as a transmission from the _Conqueror_ demanded his attention. Without turning to face the grim man on the other end of the transmission Kevin spoke quickly, he already knew what this was about.

"Permission denied, you will hold your position Vice Admiral-."

"Bloody child! Are you insane? Even the _Night Hammer_ can't withstand punishment like that for long, you expect us to sit here and watch you get yourself killed?" Vice Admiral Letho Canady was a grizzled veteran of the Imperial Navy. He was blunt, had no respect for incompetence, and ceaselessly spoke his mind, fearing no being alive. He respected his leader immensely, but refused to be mystified by his power. Kevin would always be 'a bloody child' to him, which was one of the reasons why he was the highest-ranking officer in the fleet besides himself and Admiral Daala.

"Admiral your ships need time to recover, we are giving them time, hold your position, we'll bring the party to you." Turning to face the grim faced and balding man for a moment, he saw how unimpressed the man was with his words.

"That's not bloody likely, you'll be torn to shreds before you manage to limp your way back to our line. Don't you dare force me to disobey an order from _you_ , order the damned strike!"

"Hold your position, the enemy may soon strike at the earth, the shield isn't up yet and I need you there, don't worry, our shields will hold." _I hope…_

"You're a damned fool and you know it, with the Sangheili in retreat we need a fucking miracle right now… where the hell is that empress of yours?"

"Don't worry admiral, the Sangheili aren't retreating… the Hiroshi fleet will be here-."

"Well they bloody well better get here soon because once you're done getting yourself killed the rest of us will be in serious fucking trouble, order the damn strike, you need us." He flashed Vice Admiral Canady a quick glare and shook his head before ending the transmission so he could once again focus his attention on the battle. The situation wasn't much better, the enemy ships had intensified their attacks on his ship despite their mounting casualties. Two more of their battleships had been destroyed, very few remained but the enemy battlecruisers were still dangerously numerous.

If the enemy fire didn't slacken they would be soon forced to put every inch of power the ship could muster into their shields, effectively neutering their weapon systems. With their guns silent, the enemy fleet would either continue to pummel them or maneuver to finish off the rest of his fleet. His clone's trap had to work, if it didn't the situation would be even more perilous. Vice Admiral Canady's words rang loudly in his ears. _Where the hell is that empress of yours?_

The Hiroshi were coming, along with their other allies, but when? And when was Treize going to get that damned shield generator operational? He had one last card to play in this deadly game and it was a rather small one, four old warships from an era long gone. With the invincibility of the Sangheili ships in question it was even more important that his clone's timing be right. _It is time to prove your worth, will you live up to the legend that you were born into, or will you fall into disgrace and perish with the rest of your crew?_

"Time to intercept… two minutes!" The nervousness of the crewman was blatantly obvious, his voice trembled as he called out his report. _You should be nervous… if this attack doesn't go exactly according to plan…_ Kevin let his thoughts trail off, he couldn't bring himself to complete his grim thought. Checking over the squadron's trajectory one more time, he shook his head. _No matter how many times you look at these numbers you're not going to see anything different. The enemy ships won't detect us until the last possible moment, our velocity won't change, we'll smash into them from behind before they even know what hit them._

The _Leviathan's_ squadron was performing a slingshot maneuver around the moon, gaining what little velocity they could before they made contact with the enemy. They would come from behind, undetected, unexpected, and then perform a braking maneuver. Once in position their ships would begin to independently maneuver to stay behind their targets, each doing their best to avoid any counter-attack that may occur. The _Leviathan_ and the _Triton_ were to target the enemy battlecruisers while the _Pisces_ and the _Cancer_ attacked the smaller enemy vessels. The _Leviathan's_ fighter squadrons would be unopposed, they would be free to perform strafing runs at will.

"Time to intercept… one minute!" The crewman's voice was harder now, the young man apparently having come to terms with his own mortality. Brave was the face when danger was imminent. Clutching Kate's cross through his uniform, Kevin did his best to come to terms with his own. He desperately wished that he could hear Kate's voice one last time before the end, should the worst happen.

"All squadrons launch!" Captain Noin's voice rang loud and true across the bridge, startling him back to the task at hand. "Give em' hell Zechs…" Noin's last words were added quietly, coming out as a ghostly whisper. Kevin's excellent hearing and his proximity to the young captain were the only reasons he managed to catch her near silent prayer. He didn't know who this Zechs was, but it was obvious how much she cared for him.

"Time to target… thirty seconds…" As the crewman's words trailed off the Sangheili's ships came into view, the enemy ships would be close behind them, hopefully not too close. _Don't worry, you know exactly how fast the enemy ships are, they are going to be right where you expect them to be… unless they decelerated for some reason or broke off their pursuit, would they do that?_ There indeed had been no need to worry, the enemy ships were still in pursuit. Even better, his calculations had been perfect, the much larger enemy fleet was now in their sites.

"All ships, execute breaking maneuvers and open fire!" All at once the four ships fired with every weapon that they possessed. The _Leviathan's_ own weaponry was nothing compared to her support ships, but every shot would count. The _Cancer_ and the _Pisces_ were destroyers, they had been designed to hit hard and fast, they were in their element. Their forward-facing weaponry obliterated their initial targets and both ships prepared to engage their next victims. Meanwhile the _Triton_ 's vastly heavier arsenal was making quick work of several targets at once.

The _Triton_ was an old Hiroshi heavy cruiser, but she was still extremely deadly. She had four forward facing particle-based energy beam weapons, able to pivot slightly so she could engage multiple targets at once. These powerful weapons sliced through the unprotected flanks of four of the battlecruisers, causing massive damage to the larger ships. Their engines inoperable and many of their decks open to space, the ships were effectively out of the fight. Slowly pivoting as she decelerated, the _Triton_ turned to engage a new set of targets while her six large 'assault-class' mass drivers fired massive high-velocity rounds that ripped other targets to shreds.

"All squadrons, engage!" The _Leviathan's_ strike craft joined the fight and attacked like an angry swarm of insects, stinging and harassing their targets. The enemy fleet reeled from the sudden strike, the heavier ships had no hope of turning to fight in time, but their escorts were significantly more agile. Kevin watched in horror as more than a dozen of the enemy destroyers and frigates began to maneuver to engage the _Cancer_ and the _Pisces._

" _Triton_ , switch targets to those support ships, hit them now! _Pisces, Cancer,_ evade!" Responding immediately to his orders the _Triton's_ impressive array of weaponry began to blast apart the smaller ships as they tried to maneuver.

"All squadrons move to assist!" Noin was barking orders at her crew, harrying them to direct all of their weaponry to assist, but it was too late. The surviving enemy ships fired and within moments the _Pisces_ simply ceased to exist _._ Lacking shields and the heavy armor of the _Triton_ and the _Leviathan_ , she had little protection from the onslaught. As the _Pisces_ was torn apart the _Cancer_ abandoned her evasive maneuvers and attacked.

He should have screamed at her captain to abandon her suicidal attack but he couldn't, the words were stuck in his throat. The _Cancer's_ crew no longer cared about their own safety, their sister ship had just been destroyed, they wanted revenge. The enemy battlecruisers were slowly turning to join the fight, but their efforts were in vain. The Sangheili ships were far more agile and they had turned to join the fight. The remaining enemy ships were quickly and mercilessly torn to pieces, but not before the _Cancer_ was reduced to a floating wreck, hundreds of escape pods blasting away from the doomed vessel.

There were no cheers in the victory that had just been won. Several dozen of the enemy ships had been destroyed, but Kevin had lost half of their fleet. Even worse, the rest of the fleet was in serious trouble themselves. The _Night Hammer_ was taking such a beating that most of her weapons had gone silent, all power was being directed towards her shields. The massive ships' slow retreat had finally reunited it with the rest of the fleet and the smaller Star Destroyers were back in the fight, but the precious amount of time that had been purchased hadn't been enough.

All of the Victory-Class Star Destroyers had lost entire sections of their shields, their hulls were being riddled with explosions as they took increasing volumes of fire. The larger and more numerous Imperial-Class Star Destroyers were faring better, if just barely. Most of them still possessed operational shields, but how much longer would that last? Kevin's heart grew cold when he realized what needed to be done, what remained of his squadron needed to join the main fight. They needed to draw as many of the enemy away and hold their attention for as long as they could. Shipmaster Ryvu, it seemed, had the exact same idea.

The Sangheili ships accelerated towards the battle, seemingly unconcerned if Kevin's two remaining ships followed them. A communication from their cruiser startled him, Shipmaster Ryvu apparently wanted to talk. Even though he had never laid eyes on a Sangheili before, it was obvious that the being was surprised by what he saw, his words confirmed his suspicions.

"Honored Arbiter…?" Kevin quickly explained that he was a clone of his 'Honored Arbiter' and that he wasn't the same person. Seemingly more confused than he had been, Ryvu's hologram turned away for a moment and seemed to be conversing with someone behind him. After a few moments the shipmaster returned his attention to Kevin and spoke slowly, as if unsure of the right words. "You are not the Honored Arbiter… you are… a mimicry… a copy?" _Mimicry… yes… that's what I am… my first battle and two of my ships are destroyed… I bet his 'Honored Arbiter' would have done better…_

"That is correct shipmaster." If the Sangheili's mandibles were capable of frowning, the being probably would have. Letting out a guttural noise somewhere between a snort and a huff, the shipmaster shook his massive head.

"But… if you are a copy… then you _are_ the Honored Arbiter… and yet… you insist that you are not." Having lost his patience with the conundrum, Shipmaster Ryvu slammed his fist down on the side of his command chair. "It matters not! The heretics are numerous and must be purged! We will draw more away from the main fight and bring them to you to be slaughtered. Together we will burn their mongrel hides, hurry and recover your fallen!" With a nod, the Shipmaster ended the transmission, his ships continuing to charge towards the enemy fleet.

Exhaling loudly, Kevin turned to Captain Noin who simply shook her head, clearly as amused as she could be at the moment. He understood her feelings, hundreds if not thousands of their comrades had died in that last engagement. Those that had managed to board the escape pods were being recovered, but they were far from safe. All too soon they would be thrown back into the fight. All too soon they might be scrambling off of another dying ship.

Kevin found himself clutching Kate's cross once again as he watched dozens of enemy ships break off from the main fight to meet the Sangheili charge. Close to fifty enemy ships turned just in time to engage them. As the two groups met and exchanged a torrent of fire he found his grip on Kate's cross tighten. Four enemy ships ceased to exist while three more staggered away from the engagement, having suffered heavy damage. Only two of the Sangheili ships sped away from the engagement, a second of their destroyers was now gone.

It would be now four ships on forty. Luckily, their ships were just barely faster than their enemy.

"Noin… get us the hell out of here…" His words had been unnecessary, she was already frantically calling out orders. The time for fighting was over, it was time to run. If their four ships could tie up ten times their number while the rest of the fleet fought on, that was a victory in itself. As the _Leviathan_ and the _Triton_ slowly turned he hoped that this little victory would be enough to turn the tide.

"Full power to weapons!" The lights had gone out yet again, failing to turn back on for several long tense moments. The momentary darkness was a stark reminder that their power grid was overwhelmed.

"Shields dropping to below forty percent… are… you sure?" Kevin shot the panicked officer a fierce glare, forgetting that its effect would be muted by his mask. Or perhaps not, the man's resolve stiffened as his gaze bore into him.

"Our fleet is in danger, I will not hide behind what remains of our shields while they are slowly torn to pieces, open fire!"

"Aye sir, full power to weapons… all guns at maximum and… firing." The _Night Hammer's_ extensive array of weapons came back to life, reminding the enemy fleet that she was still deadly, and vulnerable. Kevin turned his attention back to his tactical displays just in time to see the signal from the _Reaver_ blink out. _Captain Reinhardt… damnit…_

"The Reaver's bridge has taken damage! We've lost communications… but… she's still fighting…" Heavily damaged, dozens of decks open to space, the _Reaver_ grimly fought on. Most, if not all of her command crew had certainly perished when her bridge had been destroyed, but the crew refused to yield. The weapons that remained operational continued to fire as the crew fought on.

The situation was bad, but at least his clone had managed to succeed in his maneuver. A significant portion of the enemy fleet was now maneuvering away from the main fight. Roughly forty enemy ships were not his problem anymore. Kevin smiled grimly as the last remaining enemy battleship split in two, the rear section engulfed in a massive explosion. The force from the blast damaged several nearby ships which were quickly targeted by the _Night Hammer's_ vengeful gunners.

His fleet was barely holding on, every ship at this point was taking increasing amounts of damage. The force was filled with screams and desperate cries as countless lives were cut short. This was the end, Treize had betrayed him one final time. The earth's planetary shield should have been operational at this point, the delay had to be deliberate. _No… he wouldn't… would he?_

An excited shout from one of his officers brought him out of his dark thoughts.

"The shield, the shield is up!" Reacting immediately Kevin felt a surge of relief flood into him, _it's about damned time Treize!_

"All ships, execute immediate hyperspace jumps, get the hell out of here! I repeat, all ships disengage and retreat!" They had planned for this, once the shield was up every ship would execute an immediate hyperspace jump, the fleet would regroup at Alpha Centuari. Now that the planet's shield was operational, it was safe, but his fleet was not. "All squadrons, scatter! We'll be back for you!" Precious time would be spent waiting for their strike craft to return, however, they would be safe enough once they disengaged from the enemy fleet.

Quickly checking over the grim status of his fleet he breathed a sigh of relief. His fleet was battered and nearly crippled, but all of his ships had working hyperdrive systems, their escape would soon be complete.

"Signal the _Leviathan_ and the Sangheili, signal the retreat, all ships are to fall back!" Natasi's voice was still fierce, but he could sense the mounting tension in her voice. The battle was almost over, just one last effort remained.

"Spool up the hyperdrive and engage once our fleet makes it out, until then we will provide cover, engines at full, put us between our ships and the enemy!" A series of quick acknowledgements reached him as the crew followed their orders. One by one his fleet began to slip away. The enemy fire intensified as they quickly realized that their opponents were escaping. Their efforts were in vain, however, as the _Night Hammer's_ massive hulk slowly began to eclipse the remainder of his fleet.

The Sangheili's remaining two ships made one last pass on their enemies, giving time for the _Levaithan_ and the _Triton_ to escape to the safety of hyperspace. Their attack run complete, they vanished into slipspace. Soon the _Night Hammer_ was all that remained as the last of his ships completed their jumps. Kevin gave the order to retreat, even though it wasn't necessary. The crew was already scrambling to get their ship to safety. Their shields were dropping fast, their enemy was determined to prevent them from escaping, but it was too late.

Suddenly, a series of warnings cascaded onto his displays, something was wrong. As his officers began to frantically call out their reports he felt his heart sink.

"Hyperdrive inoperable! Engines losing power!"

"Weapons going offline, gunnery reports all bow batteries non-functional!"

"Power fluctuations across the ships… we're losing critical systems one after the other!"

"Multiple cyber-attacks detected! Firewalls breached!"

"The enemy fleet has ceased their attacks… our shields are gone!" Natasi was on her feet amidst the chaos, shouting out orders. Kevin didn't have time to listen, he had his own orders to issue.

"All hands, prepare to repel boarders! Combat teams, move to primary defensive positions, we've got incoming!" The enemy transports that had been meant for the invasion of earth had just appeared. Under the cover of the enemy fleet, they were slowly approaching the _Night Hammer_ , there wasn't much time, the enemy would soon be upon them. The earth was safe, for the moment, but the battle was far from over.

Cheers had erupted throughout the room, others reacting more slowly as they figured out what had happened. The shield was now up, the earth was safe, they were safe. The defending fleet slipped away, their task complete. Silence now consumed the room, the celebrations cut short when the _Night Hammer_ failed to retreat. The mighty, seemingly indestructible ship was now slowly being surrounded by the enemy fleet. Hundreds of shuttles and boarding craft were swarming around her, she was about to be boarded.

She wanted to ask far too many questions, but she found herself speechless. A tight knot had formed itself in her throat. Pulling Max closer to her she continued to stare at the holoprojector with a growing sense of helplessness. Some of the junior officers were talking quietly amongst themselves, they were insisting to each other that everything would be alright.

"The grand admiral is going to wreck them, they don't stand a chance." Others encouraged by the words began to speak in more excited tones.

"Hell yeah, I heard once he took on like a hundred dudes by himself, like all at once!"

"That's nothing Ruiz, I heard that he took out a while Imperial garrison, hundreds of soldiers! Best part is, he was a little kid at the time!"

"What about the time he fought and killed… seven? Was it seven? Yeah… seven dark Jedi all at once, like these guys were badass, I mean powerful, and he took them all out… and their soldiers too!"

Slowly, the dread and worry was driven out of the room as the infectiously positive attitudes of the younger officer's spread. Chloe began to feel somewhat hopeful as well, if this grand admiral dude was half as badass as these guys said he was, the crew of the _Night Hammer_ should be fine, right?

"Captain… what do you think?" The room went quiet, the scattered conversations that had sprung up abruptly died. Everyone was seemingly holding their breath, awaiting the veteran soldier's response. The man chewed on his words for a moment, casting a quick glance in Kimberly's direction.

"The fighting is going to be… intense… our boys will have the home-field advantage which should balance out the disparity in numbers… and quite obviously… the Night Hammer is big. Yeah I know… who knew right? But you don't really understand just how damned big that ship is until you're nice and close. You could spend days just walking aboard her and still not have covered half of the damn thing… The enemy won't be familiar with the terrain, will have no idea where to go, our boys are going to have a huge advantage. I bet that they'll funnel those bastards into choke-points, taking away their advantage of numbers. It's going to be one hell of a fight… but I think our boys can hold out… for a while…" The captain let his words trail off, realizing too late that he shouldn't have said anything more.

A grim mood set in around the room, everyone knew exactly what the captain had been referring too. The crew of the _Night Hammer_ would hold, they would fight tooth and nail against their enemy, but for how long? How long until their ammunition ran out? How long until too many of them had fallen? How long until exhaustion gripped their hearts and their will to fight left them? Hours, days?

"Is there any way we can find out what's happening aboard the ship?" Kimberly surprised everyone with her question. All eyes turned towards the young woman, she seemed entirely unconcerned. Her eyes were locked onto Captain Cage's as she patiently awaited his response. The veteran soldier took stock of the young woman for a moment, quickly judging her resolve. She must have passed his inspection because he turned to one of his charges.

"Well? Can you do it Sebastian?" The young man paled when the weight of the room's attention sunk into him.

"What… me?" Clearly not used to the overwhelming amount of attention the young man stiffened, his eyes nervously darting around the room.

"Yes, you. You're the tech expert in the room… can you do it? Patch into their communications or something?" Chloe wondered if the youth had ever been referred to as an expert of anything before but the young man seemed to take courage in his superior's words.

"I'll try sir, if… if the Night Hammer has been…disabled by electronic warfare I might not be able to do anything… but it seems some of her systems are still operational so it might be something else… comms… I can get you comms… I should be able to… I mean, sir." His captain smiled as the youth set to work. Sebastian, with his superior's permission, even began to delegate small tasks to his comrades.

"Good man." As Captain Cage nodded towards Kimberly he received a thankful nod in response. Chloe wished that she could help, she wanted, needed to do something other than watch. But what could she do, she barely understood the what was going on, despite the massive amount of information that she had managed to absorb in such a small amount of time. She needed to help, but what could she do?

 _If I was aboard the Night Hammer with David I could fight, firing a gun isn't hard… Max would hate it… but I could do it… I could fight…_ Feeling Max's heavy gaze upon her she turned to face her and immediately regretted her previous thoughts. Somehow, Max had read her mind or guessed her thoughts, she wore a sad, but fierce expression. Words were unnecessary, Max wanted her here, needed her here. Smiling sadly, Chloe drew Max into a tight embrace.

As she clutched her partner to her chest she regarded the surrounded and besieged _Night Hammer._ Max was right, all that mattered was that they were together. Still, she wished that there was something she could do.

Quiet, half-mumbled words found her ears. Slowly, Max extricated herself from her arms and together they turned towards the source of the sound. Kate seemed to be feverishly praying, her head bowed, her words escaping her lips in short bursts. Her family was hovering around her, a series of concerned expressions painting their faces. Despite their concern, they gave Kate her space as she continued her prayers.

Turning away from the girl, feeling ashamed for trying to listen in, a few words reached her ears. She wasn't sure, but it sounded like Kate said something about a 'last stand,' which made sense. As far as she knew, Kevin wasn't aboard the _Night Hammer_ , or at least not Kate's Kevin. But what if he was? What if he was in for the fight of his life, perhaps that was what worried Kate. Swallowing hard, forcing her shaking hands to steady, she typed in a few commands on her console.

Smiling to herself with pride, she turned back towards Kate.

"Don't worry Kate, Kevin's not on that ship, Commander Boal was aboard the Leviathan when it jumped away, he's safe." However, despite her news Kate's mood failed to improve. Without opening her eyes, she made her response, her voice grave, but firm.

"I know… but he'll be back… he'll get aboard… somehow." Confused, Chloe blurt out a response without thinking.

"Wait… why would he do that?" Kate's eyes flung open and she turned to face her, her eyes suddenly welling with tears.

"Because… 'Far from their land as they made their stand… A disregarded demand… It's surrender or die and the stakes are high… They live or they die, there's no time for goodbye…'" Kate's words trailed off, her voice wavering as she became overwhelmed with grief. Chloe looked at Max who shrugged, failing to grasp the meaning of Kate's cryptic words. _I ask the girl a simple question and she quotes a bible verse or some shit…_

"Umm… Kate… not all of us know the bible by heart, what did all that mean?" Kate's mother snorted, casting a fierce gaze towards her, but said nothing despite her sudden outburst. Adding further to her mounting confusion, one of the younger officers cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Uh… that's from a song, it's not from the bible…"

"A song, what song?"

"It's uh… by Sabaton…it's-."

"Who?" The young man gave her a reproachful look before collecting himself once again.

"She um, she didn't finish-."

"What? Speak up!"

"She didn't finish the lyric…"

"Well, what's the rest?"

"…Weapon in hand… they made their stand… Still disregarding demand… They would never comply… they would rather die…" _For fuck's sake, no wonder she didn't finish… this is grim… who sings about this kind of shit?_ "…Broke through the blockade, they were finally saved…"

"Well… at least it has a happy ending… right Kate? I still don't understand why you think Kevin will end up aboard that ship but even if he does… according to your song… there's help on the way… right?" Max was squeezing her hand, she was really trying to cheer Kate up, even if she was doing a terrible job at it. She still didn't know what the hell Kate was doing quoting a song like that. _Does she really listen to music like that or is it Kevin's fault… it's probably Kevin's fault, five bucks says it is._

Kate nodded, seeming somewhat less upset, but she remained silent. Chloe shook her head as she squeezed Max's hand, returning her earlier gesture. Directing her attention back towards the _Night Hammer_ the lyrics replayed in her head. She had to admit they were rather fitting for the situation, but she doubted that Kevin would return and end up aboard the besieged ship. It just didn't make any sense, and even if it did, he wouldn't be stupid enough to do such a thing, right?

"We can't just sit here and do nothing! We have to go back and help them!" Kevin was now shouting at the older man who stood before him. He had been ordered to report to Vice Admiral Canady who was now in command of what remained of the fleet. The man was slightly overweight, grey haired, and was clearly past the prime of his life. Despite this, his crisp blue eyes were firm with resolve and his voice was hard and commanding.

"We aren't doing nothing! We got damn near torn to pieces back there, our ships need time to refit and repair!" Kevin scoffed at this which was a mistake, the man cleared the distance between them in a heartbeat. Letho Canady's eyes devoured his, the strength and intelligence behind them all too apparent. "You think you're special, don't you? You think that because you look like the grand admiral that I won't tear you down? Listen closely, damn you, you are nothing to me, nothing! I've been leading men into battle since before you were born, since before _he_ was born! I don't take shit from him and I certainly won't take any shit from you! Why the hell do you think I'm in the position that I am?"

The man hadn't shouted at him, Kevin almost wished he had, it would have been less terrifying. Admiral Canady had quickly and effectively torn him to pieces, he was simply speechless. Seeing this the man withdrew a pace and smiled, a monstrously effective smirk that sent a shiver down Kevin's spine. Thankful that this man was on his side, he made a mental note to do what he could to get on his good side, if he had a good side.

Canady returned to the chair behind his desk and cast his formidable gaze upon his monitors while Kevin recovered. They were in the vice admiral's stateroom aboard the Imperial-Class Star Destroyer _Conqueror._ The damage to the ship was extensive, nearly half of her weapons batteries had been put out of action and several of her decks were still open to space. The rest of the fleet was in a similar state, if not worse off than the _Conqueror_. Shaking his head Kevin regretted his words from earlier, attacking the enemy fleet at this point was suicide, but they had to help the crew of the _Night Hammer_ , buy them some time somehow.

His face must have changed as an idea formed in the back of his mind because Admiral Canady turned and fixed his powerful gaze upon him once more.

"Well, speak your mind commander, if I'm not mistaken it looks as if you've got something to say that isn't entirely worthless this time." Refusing to be baited, Kevin exhaled slowly and met the man's gaze, doing his best not to shrink before him.

"Sir, what if we were to reinforce the garrison aboard the Night Hammer… land reinforcements to assist them in defending the ship while the fleet recovers?" As ludicrous as the plan sounded, Canady didn't immediately dismiss it. He seemed to chew on the idea for a moment before responding with a question of his own.

"How the hell do you suggest we do that, commander?" A deep voice from his left startled him before he could answer. He had forgotten that there was a third occupant inside Canady's stateroom, Shipmaster Ryvu 'Tusamai had remained silent for a long time, but no longer.

"Our transports are equipped with… cloaking fields. Aid can easily be brought to our embattled allies; my warriors stand ready to aid the Honored Arbiter." _Cloaked transports! That's it! We can load them full of soldiers and sneak right by the enemy fleet, it's not much but it's something._

"Forgive me, Shipmaster, but I was speaking to the young commander, I wanted to see if he had the brains to come up with such a plan himself, but yes, I approve, make the preparations. If there's room I would like to send a detachment of our soldiers as well." Shipmaster Ryvu was on his feet in a flash, his voice booming as his toothy mandibles flapped awkwardly around his words.

"Apologies are unnecessary, my warriors will be ready, room will be made, together we shall strike at the heart of the heretics. For the arbiter!" The massive creature had left the room before another word could be said, his steps echoing down the empty corridor as the door slowly slid shit behind him. Admiral Canady mumbled something under his breath as he shook his head, returning his gaze to his monitors.

"Sir, I'm going with them, request permission to-."

"Well of course you bloody are! You're just like him it seems, the damn fool that you are! Very well, permission granted... Report to the main hangar, I'll have a shuttle standing by with a detachment of my best men. You are to leave immediately for the Sangheili cruiser. We're going to need to collect our starfighters that we left behind so the fleet will be jumping back with you… not to fight of course, but that should distract some of the bastards for you..." Feeling a surge of excitement flood though his body, Kevin hastily saluted and turned to leave, only to be shouted back to attention.

"I wasn't finished, damn you!" The man was on his feet once again, but as Kevin turned to face him he detected none of the hostility in the him that he had previously. Canady sighed, nodding his bulbous head acceptingly towards him. "Good luck, commander, and… may the force be with you… and all that bullocks... go, before I change my damned mind!"


	11. Chapter 11: Night Hammer

"All teams fall back to secondary defensive positions. All teams fall back!" The panicked order echoed through Kevin's head, sending waves of distress through his ravaged mind. _We barely managed to make it to the first and we're already falling back?_ He cast one last look at the carnage around him before turning to the soldiers nearby. The enemy had tried to overwhelm their position with their numbers. They had failed, miserably.

He had met their charge, lightsaber in hand. The fools had fallen around him, dozens at a time. Even with their seemingly endless numbers, they were no match for the power of the force. Unfortunately, his enemy had not given into fear. Their losses had mounted, but they had fought on, stoically resisting their imminent slaughter.

The enemy ground troops were poorly equipped, their armor was almost nonexistent while their weapons seemed outdated even by Earth's standards. Automatic weapons seemed to be a privilege, most of their weapons were semi-automatic rifles and carbines, terrible for close quarters combat. However, one shot from their seemingly obsolete weaponry was enough to tear through the superior combat armor that his soldiers wore.

Some of the troopers that his small team had reinforced had fallen in the assault, their thick white armor offering little protection from the massive slugs fired by the attackers. The wounds were deep and grizzly, there would be more dead than wounded this day.

Leaving their fallen behind, his team withdrew from their position, most of the troopers were overburdened with equipment and weaponry. The unit moved slow enough as it was, dragging their former comrades during the retreat was simply out of the question. As it was, the heavy repeating blaster cannons were far more valuable than corpses, no matter whose friend was being left behind.

Kevin and his team could have held their position until the end of the world, but the teams on their flanks were being pushed back. Retreat was the only sensible option, even though each successive step backwards pained him greatly. Each step back gave his enemy more and more of his ship. The _Night Hammer_ had been his home for years and it was being taken from him, stolen from him. Her magnificent decks were being turned into a charnel house of corpses, the enemy paying for every meter dearly, but advancing nonetheless.

Foul tasting bile burned his throat. Anger rising within the depths of his chest, he almost wished that his enemy would attack again, he desired nothing more than to unleash his rage upon them once more. However, the thought was as foolish as it was fleeting. The men and women with him were strung out in a ragged formation, many of them would fall if such an attack struck them. The second defensive line was currently being reinforced, the retreating units would reform there. It would be there that the enemy would be held, it was there that the enemy must be held.

If this line was breached, critical sections would be in imminent danger, including the secondary bridge. If the enemy gained control of this bastion, the rest of the ship would be vulnerable if they managed to gain access to its systems. Vital sections of engineering and the path to the engine room would be open as well. Life support systems, many of the vital hangar bays, and more would suddenly become the front line. The crew of the _Night Hammer_ must hold back the furious storm of their enemy, and so they would.

An echoing cry of an endless chorus of voices caught up with the small band, the enemy had reached their former position. They hadn't left their rear entirely unguarded, dozens of traps and explosive devices tore into the war-cry, cutting the victorious cries short as they added to the cacophony. A series of explosions echoed through the labyrinths of the _Night Hammer_ , bringing bitter laughter to the soldiers around him.

Lieutenant Hans stopped at the head of the group, quickly ordering his team to the rear. There was now nothing between them and their enemy, nothing but empty corridors and slowly sealing blast doors. Hans's squad of five moved to the rear, covering the retreat of the rest of the unit. The precaution was mostly unnecessary, the enemy would certainly be proceeding with increased caution after what had just befallen them. Knowing Hans, however, the enigmatic man had probably sent his soldiers to the rear where Kevin meandered for an entirely different reason.

Smiling to himself, his expression hidden behind his mask, Kevin quickly revealed the truth of the matter. Hans was worried about him, now he was among friends. IQ was at his side, her crystal blue eyes regarding his expressionless mask with interest for a moment. He and Monica had a history, a complicated history, but not the sort of history one would think. They were close, but their closeness had never blossomed into anything more than an understanding. Sure, she was beautiful in her own right, but the connection between them was more emotional than physical. She understood him, and he her, the woman's presence always comforted him.

Noting Monica's lingering gaze, Marius 'Jager' Streicher huffed disapprovingly. Jager was former GSG-9, like IQ, but the pair had never served together until joining this unit. Marius was as good with machines as IQ was at everything else, her brains and his abilities were a powerful combination. Prone to misreading social cues, his boisterous attitude often created friction between the two, especially when it came to the mysterious relationship between Monica and her commander.

Monica shot him a cold glare but said nothing, causing Twitch and Montagne to chuckle behind them. Emmanuelle 'Twitch' Pichon and Gilles 'Montagne' Toure were both French, former GIGN operatives. There couldn't be more differences between the pair. Twitch was small, lithe, almost petite, while Montagne towered above her, the man was a mountain. Despite their differences, the pair were lovers, rather obnoxiously adorable lovers. The couple went together as most dramatic opposites do, Gilles' brute strength and towering hulk melded oddly well with Emmanuelle's brains and empathy.

The final member of Hans's squad said nothing, as expected. Mark 'Mute' Chandar was former SAS and unlike his comrades he never spoke about his past, mostly because he rarely spoke at all. When he did speak, everyone listened, his intelligence rivalled Monica's. Lieutenant Gerrard's unit was comprised of three of Mark's former SAS comrades but he had opted to further isolate himself from his past, preferring instead to be among his 'equals' IQ and Twitch.

Lieutenant Gerrard and his team had been charged with ensuring that the secondary bridge was held at all costs while Lieutenant Canderous and his team had been dispatched to safe-guard the engineering sections. Lee Martin and his under-strength unit had been left with the main bridge's garrison. The bridge would be the end goal of the boarding parties. If the lines were broken and the remaining crew holed themselves up in defensive bastions just to survive, the bridge must be held.

The ship was too big to protect all at once, luckily the soldiers from earth had reinforced his small garrison aboard the _Night Hammer_. Soldiers from all of the world, from all types of governments and cultures now stood shoulder to shoulder with his own men, ready to protect their planet. The survivors of this desperate struggle, should any of them survive, would be tied together by the trials of blood and battle.

 _Here we go…_ the transport Kevin was aboard had just launched, the densely packed soldiers struggling against the acceleration. The fleet had arrived to retrieve their stranded pilots, forming well out of range from the enemy fleet. Vice Admiral Canady had no intention of committing his fleet to battle, but he had formed his ships up in a densely packed spearhead as if he did. The enemy took the bait.

Nearly a hundred enemy ships broke off from their formation, accelerating for all that they were worth towards their foes. Feeling crushingly vulnerable aboard the stuffed transport, Kevin did his best to internalize his worries, fearing that others would catch on to his mounting panic. It didn't matter that the transports were invisible, it didn't matter that the ship he was aboard couldn't be detected by sensors, he was still terrified.

All around him braver beings shifted their weight, seemingly in boredom. Treize Faction assault troops, former Imperial stormtroopers, mighty Sangheili warriors and the awkward, somewhat adorable Unggoy were pressed together around him. Armored in Treize Faction assault armor, courtesy of Captain Noin, he did his best to blend in. His efforts must have failed miserably, a nearby Sangheili warrior took interest in him, the golden armored creature loomed over him menacingly.

"Hooman… afraid? Fear?" The armored behemoth that towered over him looked like a golden god, his broken words stirring horrid laughter from the rest of his race. Bristling at the creature's words, the rest of the 'hoomans' blanched, pressing towards him as the tension mounted. Oblivious to their movements the mighty being silenced his comrades with a quick motion of his toothy mandibles as he awaited a response. Unable to form words due to his mounting fear, Kevin simply nodded, suddenly overcome with shame.

"Good! Hooman not stupid!" The golden monstrosity bellowed in laughter before continuing, suddenly realizing that he alone was laughing. "All fear… fear smart. No fear, no… smart. Roar rid fear!" Without warning the warrior let out a beastly guttural shout that was immediately mimicked by his fellow warriors. The Unggoy joined in, their scratchy high-pitched voices contrasting cruelly with their larger comrades. Not wishing to be outdone, the humans bellowed boisterously in response. Joining his voice with the others, Kevin did his best to rid himself of his fears as the transport glided noiselessly through space.

The mounting tension dissipated, the golden warrior slapped him on his shoulder as the cacophony of mismatched voices died down. The affectionate gesture nearly knocked him to the ground, the blow had probably left a dent in his armor.

"Victory! Infidels perish in holy fire!" A second cheer erupted as every soldier took up the broken words. The craft's many doors abruptly burst open, suddenly revealing a massive hangar. They had made it. However, there was no time to celebrate this small victory, pandemonium awaited them.

A fierce battle erupted around them. The Sangheili leapt from the craft, charging headlong into the fray. Several other transports had already landed, their forces struggling desperately against the copious enemy. Kevin hit the ground and dove for cover behind the ruins of a mangled starfighter. The battle had broken down into a confused melee, no cohesion existed between either side, chaos reigned.

Firing his blaster rifle in short controlled bursts, he downed several enemies before he was forced to take cover once more, a series of rounds thumping noisily into his cover. As he did so, the soldier next to him collapsed with a muted grunt, a gaping hole in his chest. Just behind him a Sangheili impaled an enemy soldier with his blue energy sword, backhanding another viciously with his free hand. An Unggoy finished off the stumbling man with a burst of green energy to the chest while a fallen stormtrooper cried out for a medic just behind the small creature.

Bursting from his cover he sought out another target, surprised that the battle was effectively over. The attackers had suffered gravely but their enemy had been slaughtered. The hangar was secured and with every passing moment more and more transports materialized, reinforcements pouring out of them.

Squads were formed, casualties were seen to, though few still lived, and soon the leading elements of their forces were fighting their way out of the hangar, deeper into the massive ship. Kevin formed up with a mixed squad of soldiers, the plan was simple. While the Sangheili broke out of the hangar, several teams would break off from the main group and attempt to fight their way to the key areas of the ship, seeking to reinforce them.

The enemy was everywhere, down every hallway, behind every blown open blast door, around every corner. As his team fought deeper and deeper into the ruined labyrinths of the _Night Hammer_ , Kevin began to worry. The enemy had penetrated deep into the ship, were they too late? Would they even be able to reach the beleaguered defenders in time?

His thoughts were silenced as another intense firefight erupted, the leading elements of his group were mercilessly cut down. Screams and terror filled the air as a desperate struggle unfolded. Sensing that his unit was being pressed back, he abandoned his blaster rifle and ignited his lightsaber, its red blade erupting with a _snap-hiss_. Sensing victory the enemy charged, long razor-sharp blades glistening from the front of their bulky two-handed firearms.

Their charge was cut short by a blast of telekinetic energy, their front ranks tumbling into those behind them. A confused mass of bodies struggled as a torrent of weapons fire cut into them. Kevin had tried to charge into them but a trooper held him back as the unit had opened fire, shaking his head at his recklessness. Feeling scorned and foolish, he resigned himself to deflecting the sporadic enemy fire with his lightsaber as his squad slowly advanced.

They soon found themselves struggling through the very carnage that they had created, their advance slowed to a crawl. The troopers around him seemed entirely unaffected by the grizzly scene, stopping only to finish off the struggling wounded. Halfway through the hellish landscape Kevin wretched, further polluting the scene. Luckily, the fighting had ceased for the moment and he was able to entirely devote himself to the task of emptying the foul contents of his stomach.

Disengaging his lightsaber, he struggled through the gore of his fallen enemy. Panic seized his heart, causing him to lose his footing. Thankfully, a sturdy trooper reached out and steadied him, saving him from the dreaded experience of swimming through the still moaning graveyard that he was trudging through. Pale faced, he received an encouraging pat on the shoulder as he cleared the horrid obstacle, the unit was back to a steadier pace soon after.

Seconds crawled into minutes as the unit cautiously advanced towards their objective. Weapons were ready and the soldiers tense, but no further enemies attempted to block their path, they seemed to have made it through the enemy line. Just as his hopes began to rise and the color edged back into his face the unit's commander called a halt. Their objective had been overrun.

Reports were coming in that the secondary bridge had fallen, but the last defenders had doggedly refused to give up their prize. The secondary bridge was now entirely destroyed, unable to be utilized by the invaders. The unit was redirected towards a new objective, the primary medical section was in danger of being assaulted, reinforcements were desperately needed.

Quick progress was made towards the new objective, each soldier moving with deliberate haste, knowing full well the weight of their responsibility. Eager to meet their enemy once again, the unit pushed on but was forced to take cover as a nearby blast door exploded. Their formation scattered as shrapnel tore into them. Several soldiers fell, killed in an instant while a dozen more were wounded. Bursting forth from the chaos with ferocious suddenness, a mass of enemy soldiers charged into them.

Lightsaber in hand, Kevin alone countered their charge, his blade easily removing limbs, severing torsos and beheading his unfortunate opponents. Telekinetic blasts forced the enemy back, sending scores of them tumbling into the air. Feeling the lives of his comrades extinguish and the fears of the wounded and dying, he attacked again and again. Bones smashed as he blasted his opponents off their feet and into the bulkheads. Cutting left and right, swinging his weapon wildly he pressed into the stunned enemy.

Sensing their movements as they made them, he easily blocked or avoided their panicked shots, parried their feeble attacks, cutting them down mercilessly. His companions reformed and added their fire to the fight. Scattered reports of weapons fire erupted from behind him as he advanced. The enemy fell all around him, either from his blade or thrown down by the fire from his comrades. Sensing enemy reinforcements pressing into the fight, constricted by the tight corridor, he sent a final shockwave of telekinetic power into them and hastily retreated back to the safety of his unit.

As he reached them a weapon was thrown into his hands and he formed up with his comrades in a tightly packed line of death. Their first rank was prone on the ground while the second knelt behind them, weapons at the ready. Disengaging his lightsaber, he joined the third rank and readied his new weapon. Before the enemy could recover from his last attack they fired into them. The effect was as immediate as it was dramatic. As Kevin ejected the spent magazine from his rifle and slapped in a replacement, an order to cease fire was called out.

Just in case, several grenades were thrown into the writhing mass of bodies. As the blasts rang out, the dead were dispassionately stripped of their weapons and the wounded were collected. It was time to move on. Just as the unit prepared to set off, a second attack erupted from the carnage. A mass of enemies burst forth, firing as they charged with reckless abandon.

Similarly erupting out of nowhere, a Sangheili unit arrived onto the scene, charging to meet the attack head on. An impatient sounding Unggoy shooed the humans away, urging them to continue on with their mission. Moving as quickly as they could with their wounded, the unit quickly put distance between themselves and the raging battle between the two opposing forces.

The situation was becoming dire, the original defenders of the _Night Hammer_ were either locked in combat or were retreating. An order came out for all units to retreat to their tertiary defensive positions, they had to hurry. As Kevin understood it, there were only four lines of defense in total, and the enemy had smashed through two of them already. Even with the timely appearance of reinforcements, the fight was still desperate.

As his unit struggled on towards the new defensive line, Kevin was all too aware that they would soon have enemies closing in on them from all sides. He hoped that their Sangheili rearguard held out indefinitely, but despite their prowess in combat, he knew that this was a fleeting hope.

The fleet had returned, only to leave again. Their sudden activity had elicited a whirlwind of emotions throughout the room, conjuring up several fresh sets of arguments. These heated debates had been thankfully silenced as something perhaps even more uncomfortable tore through the room.

A cacophony of madness and terror burst forth from the speakers around the room, sending the young officers into a panic as they fumbled with controls, desperately trying to minimize the noise. It was difficult for any one voice or conversation to be isolated as what seemed like hundreds of voices competed for dominance. Regrettably, Chloe was able to sort through some of the maelstrom of terror. Screams, explosions, gunfire and more assaulted her ears.

 _Holy shit… that sounds really awful… I thought this Cage asshole said that things wouldn't be so bad… what the fuck?_ Glancing around the room, she noticed that she wasn't the only one who felt at least partly betrayed by the man's earlier words of confidence. Kate, Kimberly, and Joyce all looked entirely shattered. Each successive scream that rose up through the clamor only to be silenced or overpowered by something else could have been David, or Kevin… or the other Kevin. Turning towards the massed, semi-hysteric officers she glared at their incompetence. _Way to fuck up dudes, as if our nightmares weren't going to be bad enough about this shit…_ Her disapproving look was wasted however, they were all far too busy trying to resolve their mistake.

"Damnit man! Isolate the command frequency, get rid of the rest of that rubbish!" Captain Cage called out above the noise that was maniacally assaulting his ears.

"I'm trying!" The flustered Sebastian hollered back as he furiously scoured his console with a series of commands. Mercifully, the storm broke, replaced by steady voices as they relayed information back and forth or issued orders to their respective forces. Slowly, as she listened to the reports on the edge of her seat, she was able to make out about half a dozen different voices. The most distinguishable of them all had to be that Admiral Daala chick, she sounded as intense as she looked.

As she listened, a grim picture began to paint itself in her mind. The enemy had an unfathomable number of troops aboard the _Night Hammer_ and the defenders were being steadily overwhelmed. The fighting had to be fierce, it seemed that every successive report mentioned another position on the brink of collapse. The defenders were currently in some kind of a staggered retreat, falling back deeper into the ship.

Suddenly, her heart nearly stopped as a voice she recognized made a calm report. It was Kevin, it had to be. Max recognized it too, confirming her suspicions. Turning towards Kate, they were both rewarded with a soft smile as their friend slowly shook her head. It hadn't been him, _so was that the grand admiral dude? How can she tell?_ Shrugging, she returned Kate's smile with an encouraging one of her own.

Her smile faded, however, when a series of grim reports reached her ears. The piecemeal retreat was turning into a full-blown route as a fresh enemy attack smashed through the lines. It sounded bad, even though it was coming from the detached voices of commanders who weren't even on the front lines. An indeterminable amount of time later, the secondary bridge was lost, the remaining defenders choosing to blow themselves up rather than surrender.

It was grimly reported that the engineering section of the ship was in danger of being cut off. A rough and dangerous sounding voice made the report, though he seemed rather unconcerned about his precarious situation. Chloe's excitement rose for half a heartbeat as the grand admiral spoke again, still not Kevin. It seemed that the grand admiral was leading the only forces capable of supporting the soon to be surrounded engineering defense force, he was on his way.

She was shocked at how calm and confident he sounded. Most of the other voices were strained, stressed, worried, but not his. _The dude must be a total badass…_ her suspicions were confirmed when she turned to check up on Kimberly, she didn't seem worried anymore either. Whenever the grand admiral spoke, the officers would stand straighter, look more relaxed, confidence seeping back into them like a nourishing medicine.

Even Kate seemed to be taking heart in the man's words. Her Kevin, the clone or whatever, was basically the same person as this guy, right? So, as far as Chloe was concerned, that meant that the Kevin that she knew would be just as confident about the situation and just as badass. Chloe hated being wrong, but she was. Kate gasped in shock as a voice seemingly identical to the grand admiral made a hasty report.

"This is Commander Anderson, I'm… taking command of my unit, we're moving to assist the medical section… we've lost contact with our rear-guard, requesting support." Kate nearly went catatonic when he was quickly told that no support was available. He was warned that the medical section was under heavy assault and advised to rethink his approach. Sighing heavily, Kevin requested an alternate route to his objective.

"There ain't one! The only other route is halfway around the damned ship! Damnit commander, you're perilously exposed out there. Either find a place to hold up or fall back to your landing zone, I'm trying to tell you that you ain't getting to medical!" The response cut Kate deep, her fists were balled in rage, eyes full of tears. Even worse, Kevin's response made her go pale.

"Then we go through them." And he was gone, his voice replaced by a quick series of other officers requesting support or responding to frantic calls for assistance. _How the hell did Kevin make it aboard? When had that happened? Why was he being so damned persistent about reaching medical, even when he had been told that it wasn't possible?_ Captain Cage somehow saw the questions orbiting above he head, answering them for her before she could speak her mind.

"Damn fool, he must have a lot of wounded with him… the Sangheili must have snuck some reinforcements aboard with their Phantom transports. Sounds like they retook the hangars but that's about it. The good news is that the baddies are now being forced to fight on multiple fronts, that's something at least.

The enemy rearguard was entirely unprepared for their assault. It had helped that a few stragglers from their rear-guard had caught up with them. Sangheili warriors were one thing, but cloaked Sangheili commandos were something else entirely. Their enemy hadn't stood a chance, most of them had fallen lifelessly to the deck before they realized that they were under attack. The main enemy force, that seemed to be massing for an attack on the defenders of the medical section realized that they were being flanked, but it was too late.

Kevin charged with the Sangheili, the Unggoy trotting behind them, their stubby legs working furiously as they tried to keep pace. His own unit was close behind, furiously dragging their many wounded forward. Successive attacks had whittled their numbers down, his mighty relief force was now almost entirely combat ineffective. But with the force as his ally and the Sangehili commando unit at his side, he attacked his enemy with newfound ferocity. Plasma grenades were thrown as they charged, blasting gaping holes in the enemy ranks, churning massed soldiers into stinking clouds of blueish-pink mist.

Lightsaber in hand, he met his enemy as they stabbed at him with lengthy bayonets. Plasma swords tore through flesh, his telekinetic attacks shattered bones, sending crippled soldiers rag dolling to the ceiling. One of the Sangheili commandos let out a blood curdling roar as he fell, his personal shield breached. A series of gaping holes blemished the creatures impressive armor, purple blood oozing out in spurts. The trotting Unggoy reached the fight with a shrill cry that normally would have made Kevin cringe. The small creatures attacked with unexpected viciousness that only intensified as the fight grew more desperate.

The battle-rage was upon Kevin, his attacks were swift and merciless. The more desperate the situation seemed, the harder he found himself fighting. Unleashing another telekinetic attack, he marveled at its ferocity. No longer was he simply knocking his enemy of their feet, his most recent victims were killed instantly from the crushing weight of his attack, their bodies falling to the deck limply.

The last enemy was cut down, a Sangheili blade easily piercing her chest as the woman lunged defiantly, refusing to surrender. Shaking his head, Kevin stunned himself with his desire for more combat. Slowly taking in the carnage around him, he noticed the seven remaining Sangheili doing the same. About a dozen Unggoy remained, the small creatures were seeing to their wounded. Returning the approving nods from his own men that had managed to join the fight, he turned his attention to his own wounded, there were so many.

Wasting no further time, the ragtag unit continued on. The Unggoy cautiously led the way while the Sangheili formed up a rear-guard, ever vigilant. The struggling unit reached a section of the defensive line for the medical section just as they were preparing to retreat. The beleaguered column was ushered forward, a dozen troopers sprang up from their meager defensive positions to assist with the wounded. Together they retreated deeper into the ship, sealing a thick blast door behind them.

A new defensive line was established and the wounded struggled onward. Fortunately for them, aid wasn't far away. Unfortunately, the defenders were running out of room to retreat. Soon it would be all or nothing. When this final blast door was blown open they would have to stand, hoping that the units on their flanks held on.

Kevin made a report that his unit had reached its objective. Oddly enough, he felt relief flood through Kate's far off presence. _Is she listening in to the communications… shit…_ Wishing once again that the leader of his unit hadn't perished, hadn't left him in command, he moved to assist two troopers as they struggled to set up a heavy blaster cannon. All around him the remnants of his unit methodically prepared their defense. Before, they had treated him like a green boy scout, still wet behind the ears. Now, they looked at him with awe, bowing their heads as he passed them by.

Responding to their reverence with a mixture of dread and humility, he slowly became overwhelmed with an intense worry. His soldiers now believed in his abilities, trusted him to see them through to the other side of this hellish nightmare, failing them just wasn't an option. But he had failed, some of the at least. Dozens of them had already fallen under his command. He had made his enemy pay dearly for it, but that wasn't enough. His unit would make it through this, they just had to. No alternative existed in his mind, none at all.

The dead were piled high. If the enemy attacked through this corridor again they would have to climb a mound of their own fallen. Canderous approved of the new obstacle, chuckling as his grand admiral used his powers to quickly create the mound of corpses. The enemy seemed to prefer throwing their forces against them in massed human wave formations, dying by the hundreds against well defended fortifications. Unfortunately, courage alone could not hold back their hordes, ammunition and lives were becoming a scarcity.

Engineering was now completely surrounded, but that hadn't stopped Kevin and his small unit from breaking through the lines. Sensing an opportunity, Canderous had led some of his forces in a vengeful sally as Kevin's unit struck from behind. Casualties had been light for their side, only five dead and one wounded. But that was six less soldiers who would be able to repel the next attack.

Five separate defensive points had been constructed around the engineering section, and all were assaulted at least twice every hour. Reserves and ammunition were quickly becoming a problem. The enemy seemed to have an endless supply of soldiers to throw into the meat grinder. These thoughts and more plagued Kevin's mind, but these worries ceased when he was informed exactly who had fallen.

Fuze was dead, his body carried to the rear by his somber friends, Glaz and Tachanka. Jager had also perished, a massive slug had torn through his chest while he was dragging IQ from the fight. Monica had survived, if just barely. Rushing to her side, Kevin was glad once again for his mask, her condition was terrifyingly grim. A slug had torn through her right armpit, nearly tearing off her arm as it passed through her. Not content in simply attempting to remove her arm, the round had also torn into her right breast.

Face pale, eyes dim, Monica lay motionless on the deck as two medics fussed over her. Fearing that she may already be dead, Kevin slowly approached, feeling as if his throbbing heart was clawing its way into his throat. Somehow, her life had yet to fade, her head slowly turned to face him. As she did so her eyes went dim and still, a lock of blonde hair cascading down her face. He felt the life leave her battered form at that moment. As if it had been a signal, the enemy renewed their attack.

Hurrying back to the lines, Kevin joined the battle. Tears in his eyes and a gaping hole in his heart, he ignited his lightsaber. The front line of the advancing horde was already being riddled by a constant stream of machine gun fire, tearing through their massed ranks. This was not enough for him though, they had to be annihilated. Focusing on his pain, he let the empty feelings flow through him. Focusing his rage, drawing from his anger, he attacked.

Tachanka's steaming weapon went silent. As he hastily reloaded his mighty machine gun, he fumbled with the ammunition. Crying out in alarm, he nearly dropped his precious payload when the enemies to his front were incinerated. A blast of heat washed over the defenders, forcing them to seek cover. Screaming as the pain and anguish forcibly removed itself from his body, Kevin unleashed a second attack, followed by a third, and a fourth. Nothing but ash and burned corpses remained of his enemy. Yet he still did not relent. Canderous, perhaps the bravest or most foolish man present, tackled him to the deck, growling at him to cease his attacks.

"It's over! They're gone!"

"She's gone…" Kevin's whisper wasn't meant for anyone's ears but his own, his mask modulated his words anyway.

"What?" Whachu' say boss?"

"I said she's gone!" _They took her from me!_ _They're taking them all from me!_ _I'll kill them, I'll fucking kill every damned one of them!_ Pushing Canderous's helping hand away from him, he stood, storming off towards the horror that he had created.

"Where the hell does he think he's going? Has he gone mad?" Tachanka's thick Russian accent was tinged with worry, Canderous, however, waved off his concern.

"Pretty much, he'll be back though, once he's killed enough of them… he'll be back." The meager line of defenders watched their grand admiral go. Lightsaber thrumming brilliantly in his hand, the Sith warrior went in search of battle. More specifically, he sought vengeance.

Chloe had known that gaining access to the communications channel had been a horrible idea, this proved it. How had a grizzled veteran like Captain Cage not seen this coming? Was he just blinded by misguided faith in his superiors? Now one of those superiors was dead, or close to it, the panicked soldier who was reporting this didn't seem to be sure either way. The transmission was garbled and was constantly being interrupted by gunfire and explosions, but somehow the soldier managed to continue getting his horrid message through. Kevin was down, over and over again the soldier said this, panic and reason lost, Kate and Kimberly heard every word.

Even though it probably wasn't necessary, the panicked voice unmercifully continued. Several hunks of shrapnel had torn through the man's armor, driving deep into his chest. The soldier sounded close to tears, repeating his words over, and over again. All eyes turned to Kate and Kimberly, both women seemed close to breaking. One of their lovers was gone, but which one? The uncertainty was bound to drive either one of them to the edge of insanity at any moment. Thankfully, Admiral Natasi Daala's powerful voice silenced the soldier before he could say anything more.

"Damnit which one? Is he alive? Is he dead? Report damn you!" Every other voice that had been busying the communication channels was now silent, it seemed as if everything now hinged on the bereaved soldier's response.

"Which… what?" The soldier was stuttering in confusion, clearly unable to comprehend what had been asked of him. Natasi took a deep and calming breath before she responded, now was not the time to unleash her fury on the incompetent man, not yet.

"What's his rank, is it the commander or the grand admiral?" Several seconds of silence followed, interrupted only by Natasi's heavy breathing, barely containing her impatience.

"It's… uh… it's commander, no… that can't be right… commander? This isn't the grand admiral?" Natasi's response had no hope of being heard, Kate's scream blocked out whatever she might have said. Her family was moving to comfort her, but she shoved them off, rushing towards Max in a frenzy.

"Max, you have to rewind time, please!" _Oh fuck! How the hell does she know?_ Chloe had no time to intervene, Kate was now at Max's feet, pleading her, begging her, damn near demanding that she use her powers. "Kevin will know! He'll know! You have to, please Max, use your powers!" Breaking away from her arms, Max moved towards Kate. Chloe knew that Max was going to do it, how could she not? Bracing herself for whatever was about to happen, she wondered if she was going to feel anything at all.

"No!" Olivia's voice cried out from the corner of the room, but she was too late. Right arm outstretched before her, Max prepared to use her powers.

This time, however, it was Chloe's turn to scream. She had felt something, for a brief moment, but just as suddenly as the odd sensation had arrived, it vanished. Max collapsed to the ground, bleeding profusely from her ears and nose, spasming uncontrollably in violent seizures. Screaming her partner's name at the top of her lungs, Chloe reached out for her, and the world screamed to a halt before her eyes.

She stood there, unable to move, unable to breath, barely able to think. Everything had stopped, everything. Kate was frozen in mid scream, Max lay unmoving at her feet, stuck in a painfully awkward spasm. No one moved, no one breathed, not a sound reached her ears save for her own shaky breathing.

"What the fuck?" The words quickly escaped her quivering lips as if they had been a single word. Barely had her curse escaped her tight throat when everything suddenly changed. In a painful flash, the world changed around her. Suddenly, without warning, the immobile figures before her exploded into action. The scene before her quickly replayed itself in reverse. Max's spasms ravaged her body once more but she was soon on her feet, the rivers of blood retreating back into her body. Kate's mad dash was undone, her screams of anguish and horror shoved back into her now closed mouth.

Blinking in confusion, her body shook uncontrollably for a moment as the world around her returned to normal. Everyone around her was moving as they should be, the communications channel echoing throughout the room with reports and updates. Max was back in her arms and turned to face her, eyes full of worry.

"Chloe… are you, okay?" _Holy shit! Did I just rewind time! Did I just do that? Was that me? Holy shit! Amazeballs! I rewound time! How? When did I get Max's powers? Did I always have them? What the fuck just happened?_ Her racing thoughts screamed to a halt as her partner's worried expression intensified, _does she know what happened?_ Deciding that it was best to play off the event for now, she brushed off Max's worries.

"What? Yeah, I'm cool, just watching the battle for earth play out as I sit here unable to do shit about it, just fine." Skeptically staring back at her for another moment or two, Max eventually relented and snuggled back up to her. Chloe would have relaxed if she hadn't noticed Olivia's accusing stare. The woman was looking right at her, right into her. Her eyes seemed to be shouting at her, screaming at the top of their lungs.

 _Fuck she knows! How? Wait… how does she know and not Max? Shit, she's coming over, shit! What do I do? Should I run? No that would be stupid, just chill, relax, deny everything, she can't prove shit!_ As Olivia slowly crossed the room, a new thought tore into Chloe's mind. _Wait… why hasn't Kevin been wounded yet? Did I change everything? Did he figure everything out and not die this time like Kate said he would? Fuck she's still coming!_ Luckily, Peter caught up with Olivia and distracted the woman from her warpath.

Breathing a heavy sigh of relief, Chloe held Max's tense form to her as tight as she could. Max responded by burrowing herself further into her, the two girls becoming one. It didn't matter what had happened anymore, they were together, they were safe. Most importantly Max wasn't on the floor bleeding profusely and seizing uncontrollably. Chloe willed the images away, but no matter how hard she tried, they doggedly refused to disperse. As she struggled against the horrific images in her mind, she wondered what else she had changed.

Blinking in momentary confusion, Kevin's hands reflexively went to his chest. Exhaling in wonder, he was relieved when they found nothing that didn't belong. Moments ago, he had been on his back, choking back blood. It had felt as if he had been breathing his last ragged breaths as they painfully clawed their way out of him. Pain unlike anything he had ever felt before had racked his entire body while a panic-stricken soldier dragged him away from the fight.

Max had rewound time, she had saved him… again. Unfortunately, he had little time to appreciate his fortune. His time-traveling friend may have turned back time, but the attack that had almost certainly killed him was still to come.

"Fall back! Everyone back. Move!" The startled soldiers looked at him in confusion, shocked by the intensity of his orders. Not one moved. Turning to face the closest officer, Kevin froze, wasting crucial seconds as he stared at a familiar face. Lieutenant Gerrard stared back at him, as if unsure of what to make of his manic outburst. "Lieutenant, get them back!"

Having made up his mind, Gerrard repeated the orders, shouting the soldiers into movement. The unit hastily tore down their defenses and began to withdraw, but it was too late. Sparks were already beginning to burst forth from the center of the blast door, the enemy was burning their way through, just as they had before.

Reacting instantly, Kevin tore off towards the cascade of melting metal, adrenaline surging through his body as his powers propelled him forward. He reached the blast door just as the sparks died down, just as a long metal tube was pushed through the still glowing hole. Igniting his lightsaber with a _snap-hiss,_ he plunged the glowing red blade into the deadly device, nearly falling to the ground as a series of massive explosions shook the deck from the other side of the heavy metal door.

"Open the blast door!" His ears were ringing from the concussion of the blast, now was not the time to succumb to trivialities such as mortality. Giving himself entirely over to the force, he demanded everything that his power had to give. A new meaning of intoxication quickly spread throughout his shaking body, he was one with the force and the force was with him.

The blast doors screeched open before him in slow motion, the horrific sound muted to his ears. Taking in the scene before the door had opened, he held his thrumming weapon at the ready. There was little left of the enemy sappers, they had been blasted into a juicy red pulp by their own weapon. Further back, the massed enemy assault force was reeling from the concussion of the explosions, they were in no condition to fight, for now.

Plunging through the gap as the doors squealed apart, he rushed towards his enemy, taking advantage of their pitiful state. He was upon them in moments. In his wake he sent a telekinetic blast, further incapacitating a score of his enemy. They were helpless against his brutal attack, they offered little resistance as he tore into their ranks.

The rear ranks of the attack force bristled and pushed their dazed companions forward towards the slaughter. As he hacked through them, he knew with a dreaded certainty that his situation was becoming precarious. There was no going back, his only option was to press forward, deeper into his enemy. Luckily for him, Gerrard had a better plan.

"Hit the deck you fool!" Hearing the man's words before he had ever said them, Kevin threw himself backwards, landing hard on the deck. No sooner had he hit the floor, a massive barrage of gunfire tore into his foes. Pressing himself to the deck as best he could, he watched impassively as the enemy formation was torn to pieces. As the barrage of gunfire died down and the last few enemies were stricken from their feet, his thoughts went to Max.

He was now morbidly certain that his every action was being monitored by his friends. His heart ached as he clutched his armored chest plate, Kate's cross lay buried beneath it. Kate must have heard of his fall, she must have. Thanks to Max, however, he was alive and Kate now had no memory of having lost him. _Thank you, Max... I owe you._

Chloe was acting weird, but it was to be expected. Max saw, almost felt her own reactions emanating from within her partner. Chloe Price, her love, her soul-mate, her partner in crime, was now most certainly her partner in time. Her gift, her curse, her power, was now a part of Chloe as much as it was a part her. Shivering from the memories, Max did her best to cast the images of a heartbroken Kate out of her mind. She hadn't wanted to bend time to her will again but saying no to Kate's desperate pleas had been impossible.

Something had happened, something bad. She was having difficulty recalling exactly what but it must have been hella' bad. _There I go again, Kate's right, it is kind of adorable how I say that now…_ Her smile turned grim as she reflected on exactly how bad things must have gotten to awaken the power inside of Chloe. Attempting to use her powers was strictly no go now, off limits, a bad idea. Luckily, Chloe's own abilities hadn't had any negative effect on her, which was good.

Unfortunately, there was a slight problem, Olivia. The woman's immunity to the time-bending had allowed her to witness the entire spectacle. _Wait, that's it! Olivia has that crazy Cortexiphan drug in her! They pumped whatever-the-fuck that is into Chloe… and then she went into my mind… is that how she got my powers?_ The woman was once again moving towards them, she would undoubtedly demand an explanation. Chloe wasn't ready for this, wasn't ready to be confronted about what had happened, Max had to stop her.

Luckily, the sweet yet abrasive federal agent turned her attention towards her first. Maybe she could convince Olivia to delay investigating the issue for a bit. Chloe didn't need an interrogation right now, she needed support. Knowing Chloe, she would also need temperance, guidance, and a lot of rules.

"Max, is everything okay, you're looking awfully pale… I can have Walter give you a look over if you need, he's still awfully worried about you…" _Nice try Agent Dunham, you won't get rid of me that easily… I do feel awfully lightheaded though…not now Max, relax, you've got this!_

"I'm okay Agent Dunham, really, I'm okay… thanks again for all of your help… I guess you guys kind of saved my life earlier, right?" A warm, almost natural smile blossomed on Olivia's face. _Good, keep her distracted!_

"Please, Max, call me Olivia… we were happy to help, but it was really Chloe who did most of the hard work… well, and Walter… speaking of Walter, he'd really like to give you a once over, just in case." _Crap! She's not giving up, how the heck am I going to convince her to let it be for now without roping Chloe into this mess?_ As her posture unconsciously stiffened, Chloe's arms responded immediately, tightening protectively around her, more than likely casting Olivia a quick glare as she did so.

Olivia's eyes met Chloe's and Max swallowed hard as the woman stared knowingly at Chloe, _no, no, no, I have to do something!_ Her mind raced but before she could form a plan something was done for her. A frenzied cheer broke out around the room, dragging their attention back towards the central holoprojector. The source of the excitement immediately became obvious, reinforcements had finally arrived.

The enemy fleet still numbered in the hundreds, their signals clustered around the besieged _Night Hammer_ as most of their ships fired their weapons with futility at Earth's powerful energy shield. Their attacks halted abruptly as an impressive force of warships swarmed into the system. Highlighted in green, signifying them as friendly, a seemingly equal number of warships formed up against the stunned enemy fleet.

"Fuck yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Chloe was on her feet, nearly knocking her to the ground as she cheered excitedly. "Holy shit! Look at them all Max!" Luckily Chloe was far too distracted with her euphoria to notice that she was whispering into Olivia's ear.

"Later. We'll talk about it later, please." At first Olivia was stunned, first from the sudden euphoria that had intoxicated the room, then from Max's abrupt and forceful words. She gave Max a hard, but knowing look and nodded, quickly turning to rejoin her comrades. All around people were hugging, cheering, crying tears of joy, or simply standing stunned as the holoprojector constantly updated them on the imminent clash of the mighty fleets.

"Max, Max, look!" Unable to resist her partner any longer, she allowed herself to be dragged back to Chloe's arms as she excitedly explained everything that she could, boasting her newfound knowledge. "Those yellow and red ships, those are all Hiroshi ships, they're humans from a distant empire, look at how many ships they have!" The Hiroshi fleet was indeed impressive, their bulky, heavily armed and thickly armored ships made up a majority of the fleet. The remainder was made up of a ragtag group of ships that didn't seem to have any similarities.

"Who are they?" She asked, pointing at a small fleet of blue-green ships that seemed to be less bulky and more stylish than the Hiroshi ships, and yet seemed similar at the same time.

"Those are Amarakk I think, they're neighbors of the Hiroshi, and those gray ships, the really ugly ones, those are Turans I think, vassals of the Hirosh Empire… and look, there's our fleet too!" Chloe said the word 'our' with such pride and excitement that Max couldn't help but smile.

"There's more of them Chloe," She said as she pointed towards the formation of Star Destroyers, "three more I think?"

"Observant as always Maximus, nothing gets past you! I wonder if those are from the Imperial Remnant? And before you ask I don't know who they are, but they are like the only other people that use those ships so it must be them!"

"The New Republic also uses Star Destroyers… but I highly doubt that any of _their_ ships are coming to help…" Captain Cage made his way into their conversation as he usually did, but his words were full of scorn as he glared searchingly at the massive fleet of reinforcements.

"The… New Republic? Are they our friends too… or something? And why wouldn't they come to help if they were?" Captain Cage scoffed at her question, his expression hardening as he abandoned his inspection of the friendly fleet.

"Friends… sure, whatever, they never send us help though. Always too busy struggling to keep their pathetic Republic from tearing itself apart or whatever." The man turned away, clearly having said what he wanted to say on the subject. Chloe shrugged, but Max could tell that her appetite for information had not been entirely sated. Her partner probably had half a dozen more questions on the subject. Her questions would have to wait for another time, however, more activity was rapidly unfolding on the holoprojector.

As the two opposing fleets closed on one another, a new set of signals appeared, more than a dozen 'slipsace rupture' warnings dotted the shrinking space between the two fleets. Blasting out of the spatial anomalies came an entire fleet of majestic purple ships of varying shapes and sizes. A new chorus of cheers erupted, the Sangheili had arrived in force.

Leading the charge, the newly arrived Sangheili smashed into the enemy fleet, decimating twice their number of foes almost immediately. Thousands of strike craft swarmed into the fight while hundreds of ships opened fire on one another, the battle erupted in fury all at once. The room was awe stricken by the incredible display of firepower, but the hushed silence didn't last long.

"Captain Cage, sir, look!" One of the younger eagle-eyed officers was frantically pointing towards something at the center of the battle, eager to impress her superior with her findings.

"Calm down Richards, I see them." Frantically searching for the cause of the excitement Max saw Chloe quickly abandon her own efforts and turn towards the veteran soldier.

"See what? Enhance or some shit! Can we do that?" Chuckling to himself, Captain Cage entered in a few quick commands and the projection quickly shifted to focus on a cluster of signatures that were rapidly advancing towards the _Night Hammer_.

"The Hiroshi have deployed their boarding craft, our boys and girls aboard the _Night Hammer_ are about to get help, a lot of help." The man wasn't kidding, hundreds of swift transports were charging towards the besieged ship, under the cover of a massive swarm of strike craft. The room collectively winced as several ceased to exist, torn to pieces by enemy fire. The mood remained elated and hopeful, however, the earth was no longer alone, help had arrived.

The light assault transport shook briefly, none of her soldiers seemed to notice. Surrounding her were her best, her elite, her chosen. Her indomitable will drove them, her bountiful love encouraged them, her divine rule sustained them. There would be no relenting until her will be done, they would not hesitate as they committed themselves to their grim task. Her fleet, equally driven, would vanquish her enemies without pause, without mercy, without compassion. There would be no rest until the jewel that was the Earth was safe, no peace until the battle was won, no reprieve until the grand admiral and his men were relieved of their sacred duty.

She was the Empress of Hirosh, the divine ruler of the mightiest empire ever to exist. As her father before her, she was leading her forces into battle. Her glorious white battle armor shone brilliantly, her crimson elite guard stood at attention all around her, patiently waiting for the transport's bay door to open. Once released, they would trample her enemies to dust beneath their boots, of this she was entirely certain.

The shuttle touched down with a dull _thud_ and the rear boarding ramp swung open. Eagerly awaiting her word, they tensed with anticipation.

"Forward!" Her crimson guard echoed a loud grunt in response as they burst into the hangar. Charging with them, she noticed approvingly that her pilot had done as she wished, hers was the first shuttle to land. All around the ravaged hangar dozens of other shuttles were in various stages of descent, soon the area would be swarming with her troops. Fortunately for her forces, this particular hangar was still being held by an exhausted looking garrison of defenders.

Their dead were many, their crying wounded few. The telltale smells of blood and battle assaulter her senses, but she remained unbothered, she had grown used them long ago. All at once the defenders turned to stare in shock as her elite crimson guard rapidly advanced towards them. Her emerald green eyes immediately located the most senior officer among them.

"Report!" She demanded, quickly urging the soldiers around her not to kneel, she hated it when people groveled before her. The exhausted man, a war-torn Captain saluted her stiffly and looked into her eyes with fear and wonder, he knew exactly who she was.

"Empress, thank heavens you're here… I just got word that the bridge is under siege… we tried to break out… but the enemy are too many, we're pinned down in here…" His words trailed off as she annoyingly flicked a loose strand of her deep brown hair out of her eyes, but she motioned for him to remain silent once she had finished the practiced maneuver.

"All commanders, proceed to the bridge with all possible haste, for the empire." The traditional 'battle cry' of her people was 'for the empress' but she couldn't bring herself to say the words so she opted instead for a slightly modified version. The people saw it as an act of selflessness, they figured that she held the fate of the empire above herself, they weren't entirely wrong. However, there was one thing that she cherished above her vast empire, and certainly above herself.

"Does he live?" The captain nodded eagerly, knowing immediately who she was inquiring about.

"Yes milady, the grand admiral fights on, as do we all, but the bastards have us pinned down." The sounds of battle could be heard in the distance, the fighting sounded desperate and intense.

"We'll see about that." Turning towards the commander of her crimson guard, she nodded.

"For the empress!" The call was thundered by the hundreds of soldiers that were now assembled in the hangar. Unclipping the lightsaber at her hip, she ignited the weapon with a _snap-hiss_ , its pale white blade thrumming powerfully in her hand. Her forces advanced at her side, weapons at the ready. Hirosh had come, and she would conquer.


	12. Chapter 12: The Force Shall Set Me Free

It didn't happen often, in fact, it was such a rare occurrence that Olivia hadn't the slightest clue of how to cope with the current situation. She was stumped. _How the hell did Chloe gain Max's powers?_ The fact that hundreds of spaceships were battling for the fate of the planet at this very moment didn't seem like that big of a deal, even though it really was. _Did our procedure that saved Max's life do this? Did she already have these powers?_ The main problem was that she and her team still had no idea how Max's powers had manifested themselves in the first place.

The two opposing fleets were now swarming around one another, blasting each other to pieces, demanding her attention. Unfortunately, the questions in her head ceased to persist their torments. Mighty warships were being torn apart, people were dying, their lives snuffed out of existence with each passing second, it was the least she could do to watch. Tearing away her thoughts from her troubled mind, she cast Chloe one last demanding look before turning back to observe the battle. Chloe paled, swallowing hard, while her partner glared furiously back at her. Max, it seemed, wasn't the same insecure girl that she had met so many years ago, not in the slightest.

Her mind may have been untrained in the art of war, but to her it seemed that the battle for earth was now going exceptionally well. Not only was it obvious from the steadily shrinking numbers of the enemy fleet, but the mood in the room was now more jovial than ever. The younger officers in the room were excitedly watching the battle unfold, jostling one another from time to time, even the grizzled and moody Captain Cage seemed pleased.

Unfortunately, as usual, the mood soon soured as fresh reports from the _Night Hammer_ reached their ears. _They really need to turn that damned radio off…_ It was hastily reported, the man's voice full of dread and concern, that the grand admiral had been seriously wounded. Kimberly took the news as well as anyone could have expected her to have, badly. However, the roller coaster ride of emotions continued as the grand admiral's voice angrily reported that he was fine. His voice was strained, but it certainly didn't sound like he was on the verge of death. Recovering dramatically from her sudden grief, Kimberly let out a calming breath as Olivia moved closer to the young woman, should bad news strike again.

Barely having had a moment to recover from the trauma, a second report of grim tidings bore down on them. The bridge was now under heavy attack, the report barely audible as the transmission was garbled by static, explosions, and weapons fire. The words that did get through, however, were dire at best. Admiral Daala had been hit and was in desperate need of medical attention. The report's authenticity was dubious at best, the woman's commanding voice could be heard in the background, screaming fury at her crew as often as she cursed her enemies.

Sounding more strained than he had before, the grand admiral reported that his forces were breaking out of their encirclement with the help of reinforcements. Through what sounded like grinding teeth, he directed all available forces to move to assist the bridge.

"The bridge… must… not… fall!" Each word was heavily emphasized. If words had weight, then each of these must have weighed a ton. A series of affirmations to the orders followed, each voice grim, weighted with fatigue. Olivia forced herself to let out a second calming breath, everything seemed to be coming to a head. If the enemy gained control of the _Night Hammer,_ how much would that change? Certain that she didn't want to find out, she distracted herself from her thoughts by quickly scanning the room.

Kate was on the edge of her seat, as if she expected the bad news to continue, perhaps on a more personal level. Luckily for her, no ill tidings of her fiancé had been reported, in fact, nothing at all was heard from him. The young woman seemed to be taking little comfort in this, her concern was nearly palpable, growing by the minute. Soon her worries might fester into an entity all of its own, Olivia had seen stranger things happen before.

Kevin was a tough kid. Shaking her head, Olivia reminded herself that he wasn't a teenager anymore, that had been years ago. Either way, she was certain that if anyone could survive this hellish day, it was him. On the other hand, he had already fallen once during this fight. What if he had perished and no one had been around to announce it? Chloe's newfound powers may have saved his life once already, but if she didn't know when to utilize them, how could she save him once again?

Even worse, Max's manipulations with time had spawned an unprecedented maelstrom of destruction, would something similar happen once again now that Chloe had punched a hole through time and space? Feeling even more uncertain than she had minutes ago, Olivia's ears hungered for news as her eyes rapidly scanned the ongoing battle.

Pain, the sensation had become somewhat of an odd experience for Kevin. Whether physical or emotional, he was usually able to channel his agony into raw power. _The force shall set me free…_ grunting in exhaustion, he did his best not to let on exactly how much he was suffering. Not that it mattered anymore, it was fairly obvious at this point, a blind man could see. Not long ago he had given up attempting to move under his own power.

Tachanka and Canderous were carrying him, he couldn't keep up with the rest of the unit otherwise. It was a humiliating experience for the alleged Sith warrior, but the pain was everywhere. Deep unrelenting blinding pain, greater pain than he had experienced in ages. His suffering was only intensified by their quick pace, but despite everything, he persisted. He was not the primary concern, even if his soldiers paled at his horrid state. The ship must be saved.

During his last fight something had exploded right next to him, raking his body with heat and fire. His combat armor had kept most of the nasty stuff out, but not everything. A sickeningly large piece of shrapnel was buried in his gut, the slightest of movements sent shivers of searing pain cascading through his already ravaged body. The explosion had showered the rest of his armor with smaller debris, tearing through his armor as if it had been paper. They too had imbedded themselves into their new home. His body, however, was not welcoming its new inhabitants, constantly it reminded him exactly how unhappy it was.

Easily carrying their burden, the two massive men traded words to one another as if he wasn't even there, thinking perhaps that he had passed out. He couldn't blame them, they had found him surrounded by the corpses of his enemies, lapsing in and out of consciousness. As he had desperately attempted to struggled to his feet with agonizing futility, they had become gravely aware of his perilous state.

"Think the boss is dead this time? He hasn't said anything for a bit…" Others might have been worried, but not Canderous. His words grim words were offset by a deep, throaty chuckle.

"I thought he couldn't die, because he's… you know… whatever it is that he is, a sorcerer?" Tachanka's own deep voice was riddled with amusement, the pair had been trading jokes for a while now, most of them revolving around his imminent and almost certain death.

"He's a badass dark lord of the Sith, don't you forget it neither."

"Really? Then how come he's the one being carried, and not us?"

"Well, we're gods among men chunky, gods among men."

"No, just me, you're just a simple thug." Canderous roared in laughter, startling the sentries at either end of the strung-out formation. As the man's laughter shook his body, fresh waves of pain stung Kevin, the joke was entirely lost on him.

"You're god-damned right I am, the best damned thug in the entire galaxy, right boss?" Grunting in agreement Kevin tried desperately to force the pain away, transform it into something that he could use, there was no fighting in his current state. Despite his best efforts, he was entirely at the mercy of his injuries.

A halt was called and the stragglers caught up with the leading elements of the formation, Kevin and his charges were among them. The stop had been called for a rather obvious reason, a large Sangheili strike force was blocking their way. It was soon learned that their allies were preparing to attack the rear elements of the enemy assault force, their scouts could be heard clashing up ahead, skirmishing with their opponents.

Fury overtook Kevin as he looked around at the assembled warriors, _we don't have time for this! Why have they not begun their assault? The bridge could fall at any moment!_ To the surprise of everyone, including the Sangheili, he pushed away from the two men that had carried him for so long, moving under his own power once more.

"The hell? If you could walk why were we carrying your lazy ass?" Canderous' insubordinate comment was ignored as he stormed towards the leader of the Sangheili unit. Each step was a herculean effort, wrenching his body with blinding pain. His rage fed on it, consumed it, yearned for it, flooding him with strength.

"Why… do… you… delay?" The purple armored Sangheili commander gaped at him, his toothy mandibles twitching in a frenzy of panic as it attempted to form a word, any word. Thankfully the creature was spared of the difficult task, he pointed to his left down a previously empty corridor. Turning, Kevin grunted with effort, the noise modulated into a low growl by his mask. Misinterpreting the sound as displeasure several Unggoy shriveled before him while their leader visibly recoiled.

The deck began to tremble as two massive creatures lumbered towards him, side by side the two titans barely had enough room to maneuver in the tight corridors. Staring in awe at the massive creatures, Kevin was soon forced to stumble aside to let the creatures pass. Forming up into a single-file formation the mighty Mgalekgolo squeezed through the lesser beings around them. Reaching the front of the strike force, the mighty armored creatures seemingly shrunk in size. Their heads that had barely cleared the ceiling now reached about eight feet in height as the behemoths nestled into their combat stances, raising their massive pavise shields protectively in front of them. The armored beasts groaned in unison, their words were felt more than heard, they were ready.

A hushed quiet went over the motley group of gathered soldiers as Kevin advanced towards the awaiting creatures. A chorus of gasps rang out as he clambered onto the back of the rightmost Mgalekgolo. Not seeming to notice his presence, the creature remained unmoving as he settled himself into a comfortable firing position. Motioning to Tuchanka and Canderous he ushered them over, pointing to the second creature.

"One of you jump on, whoever doesn't… hand me your weapon." The two massive men slowly approached, dwarfed by the Mgalekgolo before them.

"You sure, just hop on without asking? Won't it… like… upset it? Should I buy it dinner first or…" Not in the mood for Canderous' jests, Kevin cut the man off, growling at him over his shoulder.

"I already asked them, just get on." Shrugging as if it no longer mattered to him, Canderous mounted his steed with only a moment of difficulty. The Mgalekgolo communicated with their bond-mates mainly by telepathic means, they had actually come up with the idea all on their own. The Lekgolo colonies that formed the mighty creatures were somewhat force sensitive, making communication with them easy. Well known for being 'silent giants' due to their rather basic spoken language, the Mgalekgolo were actually quite chatty if you possessed the means in which to listen.

Unbeknownst to the assembled soldiers, Kevin chatted away with the two creatures while Tuchanka, reluctantly handed Kevin his heavy machine gun.

"Don't worry… I'll take good care of Sasha…" The rather emotional looking Russian grumbled unintelligibly in response. The man never let _anyone_ touch _his_ gun, the honor was not lost on Kevin as he settled himself into a firing position, signaling to his improvised steed that he was ready.

The advance was painstakingly slow at first, but the creatures soon worked themselves up to an alarmingly fast pace. Their massive armored legs thumping the deck in an almost rhythmical manner. Enjoying himself, perhaps far too much as usual, Canderous let out a whoop as the beasts charged toward the battle. The embattled scouts of the Sangeheili strike force barely had enough time to get out of the way as the armored behemoths charged.

An eruption of horror and panic soon seized the enemy position, they had fortified themselves behind a half blown-open blast door. The crowded firing position erupted in an enfilade of panicked weapons fire, their rounds harmlessly ricocheting off the thick armored shields. Returning fire from their elevated positions, Canderous and Kevin suppressed the enemy position while their steeds powered up their assault cannons. The massive weapons were embedded in the creatures' right arms, emitting a bright green glowing light as they were powered up.

Sensing their imminent destruction, the densely packed enemy soldiers intensified their fire. It was too late. The assault cannons unleashed their destructive energy, entire swathes of the enemy position simply ceased to exist. The remnants were finished off by Canderous and Kevin, the wounded trampled mercilessly as the Mgalekgolo advanced. Shaking his head, Kevin winced in pain as Canderous chuckled, the crunching of bones and the sizzling of flesh amused the man far too much.

The progress through the enemy lines was not difficult, but it was slow. Not only did Kevin feel his strength fading with every passing moment, but there hadn't been a communication from the bridge in a worryingly long time. Fearing that he would insult the creature that he rode, he desperately tried to keep his mounting worries to himself, he failed. Far from being insulted, the colony of Lekgolo understood his fears. They sensed that his colony was in danger, and just as the ammunition on his weapon ran dry he felt them insisting that he get off.

Allowing the chorus of their voices to overwhelm him, he pushed himself off of them, collapsing on the ground in a heap of pain and regret. Mistaking that he had been hit, Canderous nimbly vaulted off of his own steed and scrambled towards him, bellowing for a medic. The man's call went unheard, however, the Mgalekgolo were charging, their deafening battle cry reverberated through the air like a force of nature.

Firing as they darted forward, the creatures crashed into the massed lines of the enemy. An unpleasant sound of sheer terror emitted from the enemy lines as bodies were crushed, trampled, disintegrated or simply flung aside. The Mgalekgolo did have weak spots in their armor, but you had to maneuver around them to even have a chance at striking them. No chance existed for the enemy, the corridors of the _Night Hammer_ were simply too tight.

Unfortunately, the attack was once again stalled as side corridors opened up on either side with increasing frequency. The attacking force dwindled as more and more soldiers were committed to the flanks that were being constantly harassed by a desperate enemy. They must know that the end was near for them, and yet, they bitterly resisted, refusing to give an inch without a fight.

Once he was on his feet, Kevin joined the battle to hold their right flank while the Mgalekgolo trudged onward. Struggling against his injuries and his mounting exhaustion, he fought on, adamantly refusing to give up. Fighting with his lightsaber was now entirely impossible, he no longer had the strength nor the dexterity to effectively utilize the weapon. He had retrieved a small Sangheili pistol from a fallen Unggoy, in his weakened state he barely had the strength left to lift even such a small weapon. The weapon spat globs of green energy at his enemies, felling them in a single shot as the destructive energy tore through them.

Despite his relentless drive to continue fighting, a simple cough brought him collapsing to the deck. He lay there, groaning, cursing his weakness. Tears of shame cascaded down his face, thankfully hidden from view by his mask. Chocking back his humiliation he did his best to remain silent, fearful that his suffering would be amplified by his modulator. Two newly arrived medics dragged him away from the fight as a cluster of reinforcements took his place.

Entirely at their mercy, he allowed himself to be dragged away. Dozens of boots thundered by as the two medics fussed over him, arguing on whether or not the largest piece of shrapnel should be removed or not. Their debate was entirely pointless, his armor had fused around the once half-melted chunk of metal, he just lacked the strength to tell them. His vitals were read from his armor's readout and a cocktail of fluids were administered. A wonderous feeling of weightlessness overtook him as the drugs flooded his system. Despite the obvious relief in which he felt, his rage fought back.

The battle was not yet won, he certainly wouldn't be able to fight now! Visibly resisting the drugs his entire body trembled, startling the medics. They were further shocked when he stumbled unsteadily to his feet, refusing to listen to their protests. More reinforcements were pouring in, the attack was back on in full force. Barely able to keep up with the rapidly advancing front-line, he was at least thankful that he didn't have to stop to fight. The medics trailed directly behind him, seemingly waiting for him to collapse once again.

Thankfully, the entrance to the bridge had already been cleared of enemies, he soon realized why his two wards had allowed him to proceed without much of a fight. The bridge had been turned into a temporary hospital for the scores of wounded and a mortuary for the dead that were beyond counting. The medics following him directed him to sit but he refused, frantically searching the still figures for one in particular.

As he searched, he nearly collapsed several times, fatigue was gnawing at him with increasing ferocity. The pain was mostly gone, replaced by a disconnected and disconcerting numbness. Recognizing far too many of the dead and dying, he slowly came to the realizations that Lieutenant Lee Martin and the rest of his team had perished, defending the bridge to the last man. Pushing back his grief he continued his search, pushing away the medics once more.

Finally, he found her. Admiral Natasi Daala, her olive uniform soaked with blood, still clung to life.

"About time you showed up…" Her words trailed off as she coughed up a worrying amount of blood, her entire body trembling throughout the ordeal. Gasping in pain she flung her head back, her matted and blood-soaked hair scattering in every direction. Slowly recovering from her grim state, her eyes widened in shock as they focused on the jutting piece of shrapnel that protruded from his abdomen.

"What the hell are you two buffoons doing? Get him to sickbay… now!" The medics hastily moved to comply, gesturing towards an awaiting stretcher. Her legendary anger was mounting, but it was about to get a whole lot worse.

"Her first…" The two medics stopped, startled by the intensity of his words. "Now, damn you!" Natasi would have argued, he expected her to, but she was rapidly losing consciousness, forestalling any argument that she may have provided. She was quickly loaded onto the stretcher and he soon found himself mostly alone on the bridge, a handful of walking wounded nervously meeting his gaze.

All at once every ounce of strength fled from his body. Barely noticing the world around him, he numbly felt his body impact with the deck. It must have hurt, it must have caused quite a scene, but he was beyond caring at this point. Rest, he needed rest. His ship was saved, Natasi was alive, his fight was over. From his oddly comfortable position on the deck he saw something spectacular, he saw Kiera burst onto the bridge. He smiled, he had so many questions for her, it had been ages since he had last seen her, it was a shame that he needed to rest so badly.

"Father!" Her impulsive outburst was as surprising as it was terrifying. Luckily most of the witnesses were among her crimson guard, they wouldn't dare repeat her words. Their silence could be counted on, however, there were other witnesses. A morbidly stone-cold expression coalesced onto her face, her next words were deadly serious.

"If anyone so much as dares to repeat what I just said, ever, to anyone, the punishment will be swift. Swear your silence to me, now." The ragtag collection of soldiers stared at her in total astonishment, their minds furiously grasping at the sacred truth that had been accidentally revealed to them. The empress of Hirosh, somehow, was the daughter of their grand admiral, but how could this be? The two were of similar age, the same age actually, it simply made no sense. There was one being present that needed no time to decipher this seemingly impossible riddle, he stepped forward.

"I pledge my blade to the Honored Arbiter's kin, swear to her or become purged!" Igniting his glowing blue energy sword, the golden clad Sangheili warrior presented just how serious he was. Presented with the stark reality of the conundrum, the unfortunate witnesses quickly escaped their confusion and pledged their silence. Nodding in thanks to the golden clad warrior, the empress of Hirosh slowly knelt beside her father's unmoving form. The soldiers kneeling by him shrunk away from her, clearly worried about what secrets she may reveal next. _That was… unfortunate, hopefully this doesn't become a problem…_

Her thoughts halted abruptly, her father's presence in the force was terrifyingly weak. She had known this before arriving, but she was now faced with the grim reality of the situation. Here he was, closer to death than she had ever seen him, laying cold and forgotten amidst countless other corpses. Pale faced medics rushed over to him, their love for their leader was touching. She hardly noticed as she was unceremoniously shoved out of the way. Her personal guard moved to protest and punish the offending medics, but she waved them down as her father was hastily loaded onto a stretcher and transported off of the bridge.

She had been next to him for a fleeting moment, the encounter heralded memories of her childhood for which he had been entirely absent from.

Long ago, a mysterious stranger had arrived at the borders of the Hiroshi Empire. He was a mere boy, barely in his teens. Lost and confused, the boy arrived aboard a strange, yet highly advanced single-seat starfighter entirely alien to the Hiroshi people. The regal emperor interviewed the boy personally, quickly permitting him sanctuary. It was unknown at this time that this boy had come from the future, it was an easy mistake, the boy himself hadn't known.

After some time however, it was discovered that the boy's craft had passed through a strange spatial anomaly, a wormhole perhaps. Eager to study this phenomenon his flight records were charted and the anomaly was discovered. Probes were dispatched, readings were feverishly analyzed, but the greatest minds of the empire were confounded. Taking the news of his sudden time-travel in stride, the boy soon settled into his privileged life at the emperor's court. During his stay, the emperor grew fond of the boy, some even began to predict that he was being groomed to be the next emperor.

This entirely unorthodox rumor was fed by the fact that the emperor had no son of his own, he had been blessed with a single daughter by one of his three late wives. The emperor was a loved man but cursed. The empire could not be inherited by a woman, it simply could not happen. It was perhaps this growing tension that caused the emperor to overlook just how close his daughter had grown to the mysterious boy.

After only a short period of time, the pair became inseparable. The emperor's daughter insisted that her new 'brother' attend all of her many studies. She was headstrong, beautiful, and persistent, she always got what she wanted. Her father seemingly wanted to adopt this boy and place him as his heir, but she had other plans. Referring to him as her 'brother' in public, they became something entirely different in private.

Meanwhile, the scientists studied the wormhole, eventually unraveling its secrets. Subversive elements within the empire informed the heir that was unwanted that they could get him home, back to where he had come from. Unable to see the broader implications of what was happening, the boy accepted. The plot was revealed, but the machinations against the emperor had already been fulfilled, the boy was gone, returned to his time. Furious, the emperor moved against his enemies, a great 'restructuring' of the empire commenced, lasting for many years.

Far more heartbroken than her father, his daughter lamented the absence of her secret lover. The situation grew far more complicated when she became pregnant. Her father's fury only intensified when the bastard child, proved to be a girl, another inviable heir. His fury was unleashed on his enemies, real and imagined alike, it was a dark time for the empire.

The times that followed were darker still. The 'mad' emperor was deposed, violently. Fierce and desperate fighting erupted throughout the mighty empire as it fractured. Assassins infiltrated the capital, slaughtering the emperor and his loyal court. His daughter and her child narrowly escaping the blades that hungered for their blood. As the empire sank deeper and deeper into chaos as tyrannical warlords battled one another for control of the ashes, the child was raised.

She had been that child, her mother raised her, alone, ever hopeful that her love would return to her one day. Since the beginning of her life, she was imbued with a single purpose, restore the empire to its former glory. Her mother busied herself gathering loyalists, securing alliances, preparing for the day that her daughter would retake the empty throne. At the age of sixteen, her mother died, the stress and misery of her life having taken their toll. Her mother was laid to rest, her ardent supporters feverishly pledging to see her bloodline to the throne.

Her forces were few in number, especially when compared to the competing warlords, but her mother's martial training at the hands of her father had been passed onto her. She would take the throne that had never actually been meant for her, it mattered not that she wasn't a man, she would take it anyway. The operation was several days after her mother's passing, she had to be swift, less her late mother's supporters fade away. It was on the eve of their operation that her father returned.

Returning with a fleet of warships entirely foreign to the Hiroshi, he returned as a masked warrior, vengeful and furious. The warlord that had been ruling from the capital at the time of his return had foolishly boasted about the slaughter of the emperor's court, claiming that none had survived. Directing her fleet to join her father's attack, their combined forces secured the capitol. Her father may have been masked, may have not have revealed his true identity, but she had known who he was.

Although it had been kept a secret, the mysterious boy who had arrived years ago only to disappear had been blessed with strange abilities, never heard of before. Perhaps it had been this that had made the late emperor so interested in the boy, perhaps it only added to his intentions. Whatever the reason, it no longer mattered. The powers her father had been imbued with had passed to her. Alone she came to terms with her abilities, alone she bent them to her will. It would be much later that she realized just how little she knew concerning them. Despite the infancy of her abilities, she was still able to recognize the man who had bestowed them upon her.

It was pure coincidence, or perhaps fate, that they met face to face for the first time as she led her forces into the plundered throne room. Masked, clad in black armor, brandishing a glowing red energy sword, she had watched in awe as he had torn her enemies asunder. Surrounded by his soldiers, he had turned to her, hesitantly asking who she was. Without a word she had marched to her grandfather's empty throne and had taken her rightful place. Glaring fiercely at her father, she had announced herself as the rightful heir to the throne, her soldiers had cheered while her father simply stared at her, gaping from behind his mask.

Later, in private, he had removed his mask and the face of a boy, not a man, was revealed to her. Explaining that he had returned as soon as possible, he begged for her forgiveness. She had not forgiven him. She had blamed him for her grandfather's fall, for her mother's death, for the corruption of her empire. He had left, crushed by her words, tortured by his mistake of having left her mother, setting into motion a chain of tragic events. Despite the rift between them, they reclaimed the empire in her name.

The people rejoiced, the old traditions were forgotten. Peace finally reigned after years of turmoil. It no longer mattered that she was who she was, the rightful heir had returned to the throne. Peace and stability restored, her father left, spurned by her hatred. It was years later, during the Amarakk crisis that he returned to rescue her once again. Acting as a mediator, he helped resolve the expanding conflict. Luckily for him, her anger towards him had subsided and an alliance was formed.

He introduced her to Jedi Master Kyle Katarn, who helped her understand the strange power that existed within her. His refusal to train her himself hurt her, but Master Katarn soon explained her father's worries. He was a Sith, a Dark Jedi, tainted by the dark side of the force. Fearing for his daughter's well-being, he wanted nothing to do with her training. It was through her tutor that she learned of her father's past. He was hesitant at first, but she was just like her mother, she always got what she wanted.

Slowly, she came to terms with the fate that had befallen her. Forgiving her father of his blunders was difficult, but she soon came to understand him, even love him. It was uncomfortable at first, having a father that was her age, especially when rumors started to circulate concerning their relationship. There were many in her court that insistently pushed her to marry this powerful man, permanently securing an alliance with him. They saw lineage, imagine how powerful her heir would be, imagine the potential! They, hopefully, would never know the truth of the matter.

A spatial anomaly had fatefully brought her father into contact with her mother, their relationship had briefly and passionately flourished. Allowing deviously plotting and trickery to lead him away from his rightful place, he had left, secretly longing for his true place in the universe. Her mother had never spoken ill of his decision, but she had hated him for it. It's easy to hate something you don't understand, easier still when your mother's hopes and prayers continuously go unanswered.

Forgiving him wasn't easy, but necessary. Warned about the darker side of her powers, she allowed herself to heal. She was shocked however, when she learned the truth behind her name. Her father's first love, before he met her mother, had been a young girl named Kiera. Recognizing the attachment that he had still held to deceased girl, her mother had given her the same name. Her mother must have seen the loss that he felt, must have seen the pain, the hurt, how could she not? Only able to guess at her mother's intentions, she thought long and hard about her namesake.

A wonderful treasure had been stolen from her father, painfully torn from his heart, erased from his life. Her mother, the sentimental woman that she was, must have wanted to fill the void that had been created. Naming her Kiera may not have been the right thing to do, but it had been done. Long before her birth, her father's love had perished. Her entrance into this world, despite his absence, was meant to prove to him that he was not entirely lost. She may not be the girl that he had lost, but she was his.

Despite her initial reaction to his existence, their relationship steadily blossomed. He was a loving and proud father, and she became an equally loving and determined daughter. The awkwardness of their similar age was soon replaced by a very pleasing realization. She would have her father with her entire life, so long as he didn't get himself killed.

Several moments of confusion and pain overwhelmed Kevin as he opened his eyes. Struggling against the murkiness in his mind, he fought to remember what had happened. His struggles caught the attention of a nearby medic who quickly restrained his movements.

"Easy there commander, easy… You'll be alright… just… try not to move okay?" He quickly relented, quite literally everything hurt, it seemed like a good idea to listen to the medic. Her ravaged uniform was stained with blood, _please tell me that's not my blood…_ She must have noticed his fearful expression because she soothingly reassured him that most of the blood was her own, not his. Hardly reassured, he now noticed several hastily yet expertly applied bandages all over her haggard body.

Despite her possibly gruesome injuries, she was still standing, mostly. This fact sent waves of guilt rippling through his chest, she was still doing her duty while he lay on the deck, barely able to move. _How badly hurt am I? Why don't I remember anything?_ These questions and more wormed their way into his muddled mind as he tried once again to lift his head. Fresh tendrils of pain blossomed all throughout his body, he persisted despite this, grunting with effort through clenched teeth.

"For fuck's sake, you're just like the big man aren't you?" _Does she mean the grand admiral… the other me? She probably does…_ "Listen hon, when I say don't move I mean don't fucking move. Don't make me have to tie you down… trust me, this is for your own good."

"What happened?" His words were weak, shaky, embarrassingly incoherent, but the woman's ears must have grown accustomed to her charges speaking in such ways, she easily understood him.

"You got blown up is my best guess, your line got hit hard just before reinforcements rolled in… relax though, the jobs done, it's over." Despite her calm words she seemed to becoming increasingly worried about his condition. She was constantly casting her gaze over her left shoulder, as if she were impatiently waiting for something.

"Will I die?" She smiled sweetly at his fearful words, shushing him like an unruly newborn.

"Not for a while yet sweetheart, you're just banged up… that's all. You'll be fine."

"That's what you tell dead men…" His words were coming with increasing difficulty now. Something was wrong with his… everything. The pain was becoming unbearable now, it was all he could do to remain conscious.

"Listen hon, are you a doctor, a medic, a corpsman? Do you have any experience in medicine? No?" She patiently waited for his response, but when none came she continued on. "I thought not, now I don't make a habit of lying to folk, especially not dead men, so you best start believing me. Now, for the last damned time, lay still."

He didn't believe her, but his pain was so intense he couldn't concentrate enough to use his powers to read her thoughts. She was emanating confidence and reassurance, but her deeper more controlled thoughts may have revealed the truth of the matter. Yet, despite his pain, despite his lack of focus he could sense a presence nearby, a powerful presence in the force. It seemed, almost familiar to him, yet, it wasn't his master. It was different, comforting almost, not overwhelming and intense like he was used to.

A call came out from somewhere nearby and almost immediately his stretcher was being hefted off of the deck and carried away. It took him some time to realize that he was being rushed to surgery. As several panicked looking surgeons surrounded him, his thoughts went back to the medic. _You lying bitch…_ Instantly regretting his harshness, he found himself missing her charming nature, she had been kind to him, she deserved better. His thoughts became even more unfocused as the surgeons began pumping him full of drugs, his consciousness faded rapidly.

"Dude, it's like your fault… I think…" Chloe was being interrogated by Olivia about her new powers, it sucked. She kept asking questions that she didn't have the answers to. The woman's persistence seemed to only redouble as it became even more apparent that she wasn't getting the answers that she was looking for. Not wanting to involve Max in this sordid affair, she had excused herself for a quick smoke and as she had expected, Olivia had been right on her heels.

"Are you sure? You've never had these powers before?"

"Have you not been listening? No! Do you think if I could control time I would be stuck down here with you guys?" Olivia seemed to relent for a moment, retreating deep into her thoughts, _fucking finally!_ Chloe took a long and refreshing drag from her cigarette, only to cough and ruin the satisfaction of the moment. _Fucking bullshit, why did I ever start smoking again? These things are killing me… I wonder if those junior officer kids have any green on them… that's really what I need… holy shit! Walter will have some, he'll have something on him, that dude is always loaded on something._

"Does Max know?" Olivia's sudden question after several moments of blissful silence startled her out of her thoughts.

"It doesn't seem like it, like… I guess her powers are all fucked up now or some shit… you saw what happened to her when she tried to use them… right?" The woman nodded, grimly. It seemed as if she too was having a difficult time erasing the dreadful memory from her mind.

"Do you think we should tell her?" Another goddamned question. _What's this we shit she keeps going on about?_

"We? I'll tell her about it when _I_ feel it's appropriate, until then let's just let her concentrate on celebrating the badass victory. Seriously though, I get that this is your job and all, but we can deal with this all on our own." After another quick drag of her cigarette she realized that perhaps she might have been a little too harsh. "This doesn't mean that I'm not eternally grateful for you guys saving Max and all, like seriously, you guys are the best, but we just want to get on with our lives… leave the past in the past… you know?" Smirking at her words, Olivia cracked an uncomfortable looking smile.

"Except one or both of you have the ability to rewind time…" Chloe exhaled a stressful cloud of smoke, slumping her shoulders as she did so.

"Yeah… but I did it to save Max, don't think I'm going to make a habit of it… Max told me about how fucked things got when she used her powers too much… do you think in a few days a storm is going to fuck shit up… wherever we are?"

"We can only wait and see. But either way I'm glad you understand the gravity of the situation. All I'm saying is that you should come by our lab, and soon, so we can see if we can learn anything about your powers. We're not the bad guys, we just want to help." Chloe begrudgingly acknowledged Olivia's words, thanking her once again for her concern.

Their 'conversation' now spent, just like her cigarette, it was time to return to the others. It was like stepping into a madhouse. Everyone was shouting at one another to be heard, some were even desperately trying to listen to the stream of incoming reports from the fleet or from the now entirely reclaimed _Night Hammer_. However, the best part was that the junior officers had broken out the booze.

"Fuck yes!" Chloe quickly pilfered several bottles from their care and returned to Max, entirely uninterested in the many calls for her to join them in the celebration. Her partner, no surprise here, was off in the corner doing her best to be invisible. If Kate had been alone she probably would have joined her, but a fresh case of family drama seemed to have exploded while she had been away. Max's eyes brightened as Chloe approached, her smile turned mischievous as she caught site of her spoils.

"I see you're still quite the pirate, Captain Blue-beard." Chloe's heart swelled as she approached, _Max you are so fucking adorable._

"As are you, I'm sure, Long Max-Silvers!" Max laughed, a genuine heartwarming, stress relieving laugh that rang true and loud. Throwing herself into the chair next to Max, she handed her a bottle and immediately drained most of the contents of her own. _Thank god this shit is going to be over soon…_

"Everything is going to be crazy different now… there's no way that things are going to be the same after all this. Aliens, a super intense space battle, spaceships from all over the galaxy coming to fight… what do you think?" Max seemed somewhat worried, her words were riddled with anxiety and uncertainty. Chloe could certainly understand, she had spent most of her recent time worrying about the future, but no longer.

"Either way I couldn't give two shits honestly, we're together and that's all that matters, fuck all the rest." Max's smile returned, brighter than ever. She watched with amusement as her partner downed as much as her beverage as she could, giggling at her struggles. Recovering from her ordeal with ease, Max snuggled up to her, leaning her head against her bony shoulder.

"What did you and Olivia talk about?" The question was honest enough, but a sense of panic crept into her all the same. _Shit, she saw Olivia following me, very subtle agent Dunham, don't they teach you anything about being inconspicuous at FBI school or whatever?_ Desperate for time to think, she hastily opened a second bottle and drained some of its precious contents into her awaiting throat.

"Just, uh… stuff, like girl talk?" _Smooth… you are the smoothest… like that time you asked Max to marry you when you were just kids… god I hope she doesn't remember that…_

"Chloe… I know about your powers… remember, I am the time-lord after all. If she wants us to stop by their lab again… we should, it'll be for the best I think. They did their best to help us in the past… maybe they can fix me…"

"There's nothing to fix, you're perfect." _That was easy enough, I don't know why I was so worried about telling her about my powers…_

"You know what I mean… something happened to me when I tried to use my powers for Kate… something bad?" Chloe shook her head adamantly, willing the image of her spasming partner out of her mind. She pulled Max closer to her, protectively clutching her to her chest. Shivering at the intensity of their embrace, Max melted into her arms.

"Nothing bad will ever happen to you again Max, from now on I'm going to be looking after you."

"This is bloody pointless… we're wasting our damned time…" Vice Admiral Letho Canady had more pressing matters to attend to right now. The battle had been won, but his fleet needed attention. Sure, he had his subordinates dealing with everything right now, but only a fool left even the best subordinates alone for so long. He couldn't care less what happened on the earth, and he certainly wasn't going to take orders from this… boy.

"Then perhaps we should abandon this action, the doctors did mention that there were risks, didn't they? Is this really worth those risks, what if our actions cause further harm?" _Why didn't you bring up these reservations of yours earlier, empress?_ Vice Admiral Canady was, for now, in command of what was left of the forces that had valiantly defended earth. With both of his superiors in critical condition, and the grand admiral not expected to survive his wounds, it was entirely possible that he would soon be officially in charge of defending the planet. _I never wanted this responsibility, those two better not fucking die, this isn't my god damned planet._

"It was the only plan of action you lot could come up with, if anyone has any better ideas it's too bloody late at this point…" Momentarily confused by his words, the glorious Empress of Hirosh, Kiera Tralcyon seemed to ponder his constantly shifting stance on their actions. Still in her stained combat armor, she still looked majestic, somewhat frightening as well. She seemed like such a frail creature, beautiful and vulnerable. He knew better though, she had personally led her troops during the battle, proving the truth behind many of the rumors surrounding her combat prowess.

The woman's words seemed to have a calming effect on his mind, despite this, she fixed an intense, look of warning his way. She wanted this to go quickly. _Fix your menacing stare someplace else, this wasn't my bloody idea!_ Captain Noin, oddly enough, had come up with the plan. Everyone was watching her out of the corners of their eyes, mistrust was heavy in the air. It wasn't her fault that everyone looked at her as if she were a traitor, her illustrious and scheming bastard of a master had seen to this. Lieutenant Colonel Treize Kushrenada, the cunning devil, was taking over the world.

At some point during the ending phases of the battle, perhaps when victory seemed assured, Treize had set his plans into motion. One by one the governments of the world were capitulating to him, each takeover seemingly designed specifically to ensure success. Some countries seemed to join the ever expanding Treize Faction willingly, while others were coerced by neighbors. Resistant governments were overthrown by their own people, rival politicians, votes of no confidence, or quick and ruthless coup's. At this point, very few unconquered countries remained stable, open conflict having erupted in at least half of the remaining independent nations.

Treize's schemes would have been easy to stop if it wasn't for that damned energy shield protecting the planet, the massed fleets were entirely neutered. Technicians and hackers were furiously struggling to regain access to the shield generator, but so far, their efforts had met with failure. This meeting had been called to decide on what, if anything, should be done concerning Treize once the shield was lowered.

Robbed of the leadership of the grand admiral and Admiral Daala, it was up to him to decide on what to do. He had quickly gathered as many advisors as he could, he hadn't a clue what should be done. Along with the Hiroshi Empress and Captain Noin, he had invited Shipmaster Ryvu 'Tusamai and the masked Colonel Zechs Marquise to the meeting. He didn't entirely trust the Treize Faction stooges, but they had been trapped outside of the earth just like everyone else. They knew that they were sacrificial pawns, he could see I written all over their delicate faces.

After an arduous and frustrating argument, the young Captain Noin had suggested that they seek out the grand admiral's clone for guidance. He was out of surgery and expected to survive, there should be minimal risk in waking him. The doctors weren't too keen on the idea, but they eventually relented to the gravity of the situation. The empress, despite her initial agreement to the plan, seemed to be growing more and more opposed to the idea. Canady had suggested that she be thrown out, respectfully of course, but the honorable Sangheili Ryvu had entirely dismissed the idea. The damned creature had taking a liking to woman's mounting determination, he now loomed protectively over her as if he were ready to do her bidding.

Thankfully, the intolerable woman's argumentative words seemed to have ceased, the room was now wonderfully silent as the assembled group waited for the drugs to bring Commander Anderson out of his coma. Zech's and Noin were constantly monitoring the situation on the ground, events were unfolding quite rapidly.

"China seems to have fallen…" Zechs scoffed, clearly insulted at how little of a fight the great nation had managed to put up.

"Don't be so hard on them Zechs, it's hard for a government to fight off their own people and most of their army-."

"All the while supported by Treize's shock troops… it seems that their lack of support for the defense of earth was their undoing." _Bloody hell…_ _was that his plan all along? Maneuver the more powerful countries into not supporting the battle for earth… then use their own people to overthrow them? Rotten scheming rat bastard, if it wasn't for this damned shield…_

"Interesting… it seems that most of the people believe that Treize is doing all of this in… the name of the grand admiral? People believe that he has the support of this fleet… that's why so few are resisting… they probably don't even know about the shield…" Noin's words trailed off as Commander Anderson groaned, he was finally awake.

Kiera was at his side in an instant, her path practically took her straight through Canady, but the empress hardly seemed bothered as he stumbled, furiously collecting himself. It took quite some time for the commander to become lucid, but eventually he was regarding the amassed faces in his room with hesitant suspicion. Before anyone else could speak Canady cleared his throat, directing the wounded commanders' semi-conscious gaze towards him. He did his best to ignore the commander's gaunt, pain riddled expression.

The situation was quickly explained. Treize was taking over the world, the shield was still up, blocking them from interfering. Once the shield was down, what should they do? How should they respond? Having swiftly finished, he impatiently awaited a response, only to discover that the commander had lapsed back into unconsciousness. _God damnit!_

Kiera, noticing his frustration seemed about ready to resume her protests, but the Sanghieli shipmaster did it for her.

"The Honored Arbiter is… not well! We must allow him to heal!" The creature's horrid mandibles flapped grotesquely around his words, and yet, his speech was coherent enough to understand.

"That is not your damned arbiter! That's a clone, that's not him, he's just a bloody copy, you understand?" Having lost his temper, he did his best to explain to the thick headed zealous being up from down, but his efforts failed, miserably.

"Clone? Copy? If your words are true… then there are two of the Honored Arbiter! It matters not which is which if the two are alike, the Honored Arbiter is the Honored Arbiter." The massive being nodded its armored head in satisfaction, its mind clearly made up. Thankfully, the creature's deep voice had roused the commander back to a state resembling consciousness. The room went silent as he struggled to speak, Kiera, finally doing something useful, acted as his interpreter.

"He… wants to know why you're asking him…" Letting out an exasperated sigh, Canady did his best to keep what little control of his temper that he could.

"I'd ask the grand admiral or Admiral Daala if I could, but I bloody can't. You're the man's clone, aren't you? You must think like him, I've seen you do it. So, I'm asking you, that's right… you! What should we do about Treize?" Suddenly, the commander became overwhelmed by a series of tremors, gasping out in pain as his entire body trembled. Ryvu wailed in concern, Noin paled while Zechs remained entirely void of emotion, seemingly bored, _at least one of them hasn't lost their fucking marbles…_

The commander's trauma ceased just as suddenly as it had begun, he even seemed more alert now. All eyes were now on Kiera, who seemed to be concentrating intensely on something as she placed her hands on the recovering man before her. _Jedi sorcery, why the bloody hell didn't she do this earlier?_ Canady would have scoffed, but he internalized the gesture when the commander began to speak once more.

"…He wants to know… if the people of earth are with Treize… or against him?" Kiera's words were strained, her eyes closed, yet her words were strong and projected themselves to her audience with ease. The pair of Treize Faction officers turned to one another, Zechs shrugged and consulted his data pad once more. Several moments went by, the heavy silence in the room bearing down its occupants oppressively. Kiera seemed to be struggling now, her strength fading rapidly.

"It seems that… overall Treize has more support than he has enemies. I would expect him to gain total control of the world's governments in the next… twenty-four hours? It seems that the American president has been removed from office, though they have yet to capitulate, while a bloody civil war has erupted in the Russian capitol, they are his last major obstacles.". The commander nodded, flinching against another tendril of pain as he did so.

"Get that shield down… and if it seems like Treize is working against the people… get rid of him… if he's doing this all for himself… remove him… but… leave him be if-." Kiera gasped loudly, her youthful face drenched in sweat. Her entire body shook as she struggled to prevent herself from collapsing. Her powers were clearly spent, the commander slipped into unconsciousness once more. Thankfully, his last words had been clear enough. Take out Treize if he was against the people, leave him be… maybe even support him if he was acting in the planet's best interest.

Slowly but surely, Kevin awoke to the best scene that could possibly greet him, Kate playing her violin. She was so caught up in her craft that she failed to notice his slow but gradual journey to consciousness. As he gradually became more and more aware of the world around him, he watched her play, enjoying every moment of it. She always seemed so carefree, so entirely at peace when she played, it was beautiful. The scene could have only been more perfect if her hair had been down, but she only did that in private.

Finishing her song, her eyes slowly opened, going wide with surprise as she discovered that he was awake. Sitting himself up, he stretched. His pain was manageable but still quite debilitating. Despite this he was content, he was alive and seemingly entirely in one piece. He cheered immensely when Kate informed him that he was expected to make a full recovery. Her charming and relieved expression abruptly became deadly serious. Withering under her intense glare, he awaited her inevitable reprimand.

"It's going to take you a while yet to fully recover, giving us plenty of time to sort through everything, and I do mean everything. I've spent plenty of time locked away in different prisons, locked away with some very interesting people… locked away with my family, who have plenty of questions of their own. I learned a lot about you, more than you might expect, so you better not leave anything out." Swallowing hard he nodded, as he did so her appearance softened. There would be time for interrogations later, plenty of time.

Seeing that he still had many questions of his own, she quickly caught him up with recent events. The man he had been cloned from, the grand admiral, his master, still lived. The man had suffered horrendous wounds, but he resiliently clung to life. There was no doubt that his incredible powers were perhaps the only reason behind his miraculous survival. Though he had yet to regain consciousness, it was expected that he would make a full recovery, mostly.

Admiral Natasi Daala, had survived as well, but her wounds were threatening to see her entirely out of action. The best possible recovery for the woman was going to be a struggle, but if anyone had the will or the determination to overcome the odds, it was her.

The death toll had been high, especially aboard the _Night Hammer,_ but the earth had been saved. However, he was surprised to discover that things were not as they were on his planet. The Treize Faction had entirely taken control of the planet, sweeping aside the world governments in a lightning fast, well-coordinated, takeover. Shortly after the resolution of the battle for earth, Treize Kushrenada had total control of the planet.

Surprisingly, he had immediately relinquished control of the planet to a newly formed 'world-government' and placed himself under arrest. The victorious Treize Faction was disbanded and incorporated into the newly formed armed forces. The planetary shield was lowered and earth's valiant forces were welcomed as heroes, entirely perplexed by the dramatic series of events. The grand admiral, once he recovered, was to remain in command of the newly formed naval forces. It was being left to his discretion if Admiral Daala would be capable of returning to her former post.

For now, Vice Admiral Canady reluctantly and begrudgingly accepted command of the naval forces. He was eagerly awaiting the recovery of one, perhaps both, of his superiors. Diplomatic relations had been established with the various factions that had come to the earth's aid. Rumors were already abound concerning the Empress of Hirosh. She was young, beautiful, willful, and extremely powerful. A political marriage was already being speculated between herself and the grand admiral. Welcomed to earth with glorious fanfare and excitement, Kiera was the shining star amongst the representatives from the other worlds.

During Kate's arduous tale, she was thankfully given a break when Max and Chloe stopped by for a visit. Kevin couldn't have been more overjoyed, his friends looked well, closer than ever. Long ago he had seen the power of their passion for one another, it was perhaps far too satisfying to see them happily enjoying each other's company. Kevin thanked Max, with as much heartfelt gratitude as he could muster, for intervening with her powers when he had needed her most. Several moments of awkwardness followed, confused he hesitantly asked what was wrong.

"Dude, I don't know how to say this… so I'm just going to say it… it was totally me that saved you. I can do the time rewindy stuff now…" Chloe, serious and bashful somehow had gained access to Max's abilities, Kevin immediately pressed her for an explanation.

An obviously abridged version of the events that had transpired was hastily explained to him. Max and Chloe had been kidnapped by the Treize Faction and rescued by a timely intervention by Agent Dunham, allegedly with some help from forces loyal to the grand admiral. Max had been incapacitated when her powers attempted to force themselves out of her, or she had tried to access them, it wasn't certain. She had been rushed to Walter's lab and Chloe had gone into her mind and saved her. _As one does in these types of situations, naturally._

Kate listened silently, clearly unsurprised by the details, she had certainly heard all of this before, perhaps in greater detail than he was at the moment. Entirely overwhelmed by the ludicrous story that was being presented to him, he asked how all this had led to Chloe gaining the ability to control time.

"Oh… well in order for me to jump into Max's mind… they pumped me full of some crazy drug which expanded my consciousness or whatever. Walter thinks that while I was inside Max's mind I somehow gained her powers…"

"Somehow?" Chloe shrugged at his question, as if it really didn't matter to her.

"Yeah dude, the eggheads seem hella' confused at how it all went down but I can control time now… so that's cool, I guess." Even though she was doing her best to act relaxed and unimpressed by this fact, her eyes shone brightly with excitement. Max, clearly not fooled either, smiled at her partners attempt to play off the event.

"You're so humble Chloe… it's almost cute." Chloe seemed to take exception to her partners remark, turning to face her with sudden enthusiasm.

"Almost? Are you kidding me Caulfield, I'm fucking adorable!" _That's more like her…_ his thoughts became clouded as the pain reminded him of his state. Feeling weak, he did his best to hide his discomfort. Kate, however, saw through his clumsy efforts and quickly called an end to the reunion. It was time for him to rest, and even if he had wanted to argue with her, he simply couldn't. He was tired, perhaps more tired than he had ever been in his strange life.

As Max and Chloe said their goodbye's he settled back down and began to wonder how much the world was going to change. Earth was now part of the galactic stage. With the help of her new allies she had shown her indomitable will to survive. No matter what lay in store for his planet in the future, he was sure that he and his friends would face it head on, adapting if necessary as they had always done. Life was indeed strange, but his place in it had seemingly been cemented. Thankfully, despite his many failures and mistakes, it seemed that Kate was still willing to see it through with him.

Cheered by this thought, he allowed himself to drift off into a much-needed slumber, the world and its changes would have to wait.


End file.
